Plumpton Runner

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Plumpton and Ayr and an all-weather flat fixture from Wolverhampton.   Following a nice dry week, would you believe that the ground at Plumpton is good (good to firm in places)?  How on earth has that happened?!  David has one runner this afternoon; What A Moment (pictured above) who runs in the 3m1½f conditional jockeys' handicap chase at 1.00pm.

What A Moment looked to be returning to form when running his best race for some time when third at Wincanton last time out.  Course and distance should suit, although this will be the quickest ground that he has raced on.  Mind you, his last win did come on good ground at Cheltenham from a mark 20lbs higher than today.  He may not be as good as he was, but this would be the easiest race he has contested for some time.  Fergus Gillard is in the saddle and claims 3lbs off his back and he looks to have each-way claims.

We drew a blank over the weekend but Little Red Lion was a little unlucky in the Eider Chase at Newcastle.  He was just creeping into contention when taking a fall on the final circuit.  Up until then he had given the racing club members a real thrill but there will be other days for him.

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Chelsea and Manchester United fought out a 0-0 draw yesterday afternoon, but with Leicester losing to Arsenal all that has happened is that Manchester City have increased their advantage at the top of the table.  Meanwhile, Liverpool managed to regain some momentum with a 2-0 success over bottom of the league Sheffield United.

John Higgins ran out an easy winner of the Players' Championship at the weekend by thrashing Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-3 in the final.  Higgins rarely looked in trouble and played beautifully throughout the tournament.  It is amazing how things can turn around - he looked in rotten form just a month ago but seems to be bang in form now with the World Championships just around the corner.

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 I went to the doctors the other day and said, 'Have you got anything for wind?' So he gave me a kite!