Chester Cup Day

Although unable to land a winner yesterday, there were still some good performances.  Meep Meep Mag was not beaten at all far into fourth on her hurdling debut after an absence of 497 days.  She jumped well and stuck to her task in the closing stages.  She would certainly have benefitted from a stronger gallop, but this was a promising first effort nonetheless and she is entitled to come on for this.  Mr Clarkson was second in the 2m7f handicap hurdle, doing everything but win the race.  He looked sure to win as he scooted clear off the home turn, but was just reeled in by the favourite in the closing stages.  This was another good performance from our nine year old, conceding weight away all round and he certainly deserves to get his head in front again.

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with a jumps card from Market Rasen and flat fixtures from Ascot, Chester, Nottingham and Ripon.  The big race of the day is the Chester Cup at 2.45pm.  As usual, it is a fiercely competitive handicap run over 2m2½f of the famous Roodeye course.  The track is so tight the seventeen runners have to go round about seventeen times (or at least it seems like it!).  Even over this trip, the draw is vital.  You need a good start as you don't want to forfeit ground by being trapped out wide or out of your ground too far back.  It is a great race to be involved in and David was able to win it in 2010 with Mamlook.  This looks to be a wide open renewal with the bookmakers going 10/1 the field, which is incredible when you consider that the favourite for the Grand National was 11/2!  If I was given a free bet on the race I would probably side with Hochfeld who is well drawn, likes to race prominently and is on the same mark as when narrowly beaten last week.

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Manchester United made it to the final of the Europa Cup last night despite a shaky performance which saw them lose 3-2 on the night in their semi-final second leg to Roma.  Even so, they had done more than enough in the first leg, meaning that they were successful 8-5 on aggregate.  Arsenal could not overcome Villareal, fighting out a 0-0 draw which saw them lost 2-1 on aggregate.

Leicester take on Newcastle in Premiership action tonight and the Foxes have plenty to play for as they look to guarantee a spot in Europe next season.  Newcastle continue to struggle and face an uphill task against Leicester with the action kicking-off at 8pm tonight.

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Why did the elephant cross the road?  Because he didn't want to be mistaken for a chicken!
Why are elephants wrinkled?  Have you ever tried ironing one?!