2 Runners At Exeter

It has been a cold start to the day with the temperature gauge at -3°c this morning and a white frost.  Even so, there are three meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Exeter and Newcastle and an all-weather flat fixture from Southwell.  David has two runners at Exeter today; Bumpy Johnson and Shoot To Fame.  Bumpy Johnson (picturede above) contests the 2m1f maiden hurdle at 1.35pm.  He looked good when winning a Fontwell bumper on his rules debut and ran well when a close third at Hereford on his first start over hurdles but lacked fluency when disappointing last time.  He has schooled well since and has the ability to get involved in this with a clean round of jumping under Tom Scudamore.

Our other runner is Shoot To Fame who runs in the 2m1f novices' handicap hurdle at 3.40pm.  She was the winner of a couple of point-to-points and showed promise in bumpers last season, although she has not progressed over timber so far.  She drops back in trip and has the headgear removed today and may find the better ground in her favour.  This doesn't look to be the deepest of races and she could have place claims with Fergus Gillard taking 5lbs off her back.

Just think, this time next week we will all be settling down ready for the start of a very different Cheltenham '21.  There is rain forecast from this afternoon onwards so it will be fascinating to see how that impacts the ground which is currently good/soft, good in places.

*****

There were good wins for Chelsea and West Ham last night as they beat Everton and Leeds United respectively.  As a Chelsea fan, David will no doubt be very happy with last night's performance.  Chelsea hold the all important fourth and final place for European qualification, whilst the Hammers are close behind in fifth.  With ten games of the season left they will be pushing hard for that final place.

*****

What has "T" at the beginning, "T" in the middle and "T" at the end?  A Teapot!