Vieux Runs In Veteran's

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with flat action from Newmarket and York, an all-weather flat fixture from Newcastle and a jumps card from Chepstow.  Today signals the traditional start to the core part of the jumps season, with Chepstow's fist meeting of the new campaign.  David has one runner today as tremendously popular Vieux Lion Rouge (pictured above) contests the veteran's handicap chase at 2.10pm.  Owned by Professor Caroline Tisdall and John Gent, I am sure the Professor would love to win the race that she is sponsoring on the card.  Vieux Lion Rouge was a very impressive winner of the Becher last season and our 12 year old seems to be in good form at home.  He won this race in 2019 and a reproduction of that sort of performance would give him every chance here under Tom Scudamore, although drying ground would be a concern.

Meanwhile, there is Group 1 action on the level over at Newmarket where next year's Guineas favourite, Inspiral is in action in the Fillies' Mile.  She has looked a cut above her rivals in three starts this season and whilst the ground will be a little softer than she has experienced thus far, it would still be a big surprise if she were to be beaten.

The ground at Exeter was pretty quick yesterday and as a consequence, Paricolor was a non-runner.  Nabvutika finished unplaced in the mares' maiden hurdle, whilst Major Robinson was not beaten all that far in the 2m2½f handicap hurdle, although he just seemed to lack the toe to get involved at the business end.  Placed over 2m5½f, perhaps he is just in need of more of a test of stamina?

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All is set for Newcastle United football club to be taken over by a Saudi Arabian consortium in a deal worth £305 million, ending the fourteen year reign of Mike Ashley.  It will be fascinating to see if the major cash injection, led by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia leads to the same results as the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, who have both benefitted from foreign investment.

There is World Cup qualifying action this evening, with the Welsh national side taking on the Czech Republic away from home.  Wales will be desperate to get a result as they are currently level on points with their opponents in the group, although they are without several key players, including their talisman, Gareth Bale.

Practice for this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix gets underway today with Lewis Hamilton narrowly leading the championship from Max Verstappen.  The track is expected to suit the Red Bull more than Mercedes following a couple of Merc strongholds.  It was meant to be the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend but Covid restrictions meant the race had to be abandoned.  Even so, Red Bull will be running a one-off livery to mark the event in honour of their engine partners, Honda who are leaving the sport at the end of the season.

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Did you hear about the group of robbers who were going to do a 'bank job'?  They managed to break into an estate agents by mistake and after a fierce fight, the robbers were glad just to get out in one piece.
Trying to look on the bright side, one of the robbers said, "At least we managed to get out with 50 quid."  To which, one of the other robbers replied, "But we had over £100 when we went in there."