2 In Welsh Champion Hurdle

There are six meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards from Ascot and Catterick, an all weather flat fixture from Wolverhampton and jumps meetings from Market Rasen, Ffos Las and Stratford.  David has two runners today; Leoncavallo and Umbrigado who both contest the ultra-competitive Welsh Champion Hurdle at Ffos Las at 4.35pm.  Umbrigado (pictured above) took well to fences last season, winning three times, including the Greatwood Gold Cup at Newbury.  He is 7lbs lower over hurdles compared to his chase mark so has a chance on that basis, although he may ideally prefer a bit more cut in the ground.  David Noonan rides.  Our other runner is Leoncavallo, who will be partnered by Tom Scudamore.  He is a tough and genuine individual, who ran really well at the Cheltenham and Aintree Festivals last season and should give his running once again.

Away from Ffos Las, the best of the action undoubtedly comes from Ascot where it is Champions Day.  Their card features four Group 1 races and a Group 2.  The big race is the Champion Stakes at 3.50pm and it looks to be a match between Derby and King George winner Adayar and Juddmonte International winner Mishriff.  Although he has won over further, Mishriff looks as though this is his optimum distance and was very impressive last time out, whilst Adayar had a hard race in the Arc less than a fortnight ago and that tips the balance in favour of Mishriff for me.

We were out of luck at Uttoxeter with Ranco finishing unplaced in the 2m handicap hurdle.  Given his ability on the flat, there ought to be races in him over hurdles, although perhaps a switch back to the level may be the order of the day?

The jockeys' title is decided today and Oisin Murphy goes into it three winners ahead of William Buick having ridden two winners to Buick's one yesterday.  That looks too big a deficit to overcome, with a book of just five rides today.  Meanwhile, the trainers' title carries on until the end of the turf season (I think?!) - the end of the flat season is a bit of a mystery to me and could probably do with addressing.

*****

There are seven Premiership football matches taking place this afternoon with the pick looking to be the match between Leicester and Manchester United.  Jamie Vardy looks to be in good nick at the moment and with home field advantage it wouldn't be a surprise to see Leicester get something out of this with a draw perhaps looking the most likely outcome.

Mark Allen gave the home crowd something to cheer about yesterday when he came from 3-0 down to beat Judd Trump 5-3 in the Northern Ireland snooker.  He will meet Ricky Walden in the semi-finals, whilst Yan Bingtao and John Higgins will contest the other semi.

*****

I went to the doctors with hearing problems, he said “Can you describe the symptoms?”

I said “Homer’s fat, Marge has blue hair, Maggie is the baby, Lisa’s the brains, and Bart’s a nightmare”