Weekend Jottings

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Ascot and Carlisle and a flat card at Doncaster.  David has one runner at Ascot today; Iron Heart who contests the 1m7½f juvenile handicap hurdle at 2.45pm.  He put up a good effort to win at Newbury last time, skipping clear of his rivals only to idle on the run-in to score by a diminishing margin.  I think he was value for more than the winning distance that day and the form has been franked with the third home scoring since.  Winning rider Fergus Gillard is in the saddle again and takes 5lbs off his back and he looks to have a good chance.  With over £15,000 up for grabs to the winner, these juvenile handicaps are very valuable and offer a good opportunity for the youngsters to land a nice prize.

The card at Doncaster is a bit of a strange mix with the handicaps very well subscribed, whilst the most valuable race on the menu is a conditions race with only four runners.  Organisers must surely be frustrated by that.

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England take on Albania in the second match in their World Cup qualifying campaign.  They kick-off at 5pm, whilst the Scots are away to Israel at 7.45pm.

I have been looking forward to the Formula One returning for some time now and am excited at the prospect of there being more than one team in the running this season for the first time in a long time.  Let's hope it works out that way - the first race of the season takes place in Bahrain today.

I will also be cheering for Neil Robertson in the final of the Tour Championship snooker this afternoon. 'The Thunder from Down Under' looked in great form on Friday and he is peaking a the right time with the world championships taking place next month.

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A man was drinking heavily in a bar.
"I think you've had enough," said the bartender.
The drunk was indignant.  "I've just lost my wife," he said.
The bartender sympathised.  "Well, it must be hard losing your wife."
"Hard?  It was almost impossible!"