No Sign Of Rain

It's positively balmy this morning with temperatures at the yard reaching a tropical 7ºc, still no sign of the rain though.  There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Hereford and Wetherby and an all-weather flat fixture.  Once again, field sizes are limited, mainly owing to the prevailing ground.  Both jumps cards are offering good ground, good/firm in places and whilst the tracks do a great job to provide safe going, they are not the optimum conditions for the winter horses and are more suited to the summer jumpers.

David has no runners today, although we will be back with a couple at Lingfield tomorrow, so come back then to find out more.

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There was a good night for English football clubs in Europe as Chelsea and Manchester United were both successful.  Chelsea put four past Juventus, whilst Manchester United received a much needed shot in the arm by beating Villareal 2-0.

The European action continues tonight with both Manchester City and Liverpool in action.  They arrive here at the head of their respective tables and on the back of convincing wins in the Premier League at the weekend.

There was controversy in the UK Open snooker championship yesterday as former world champion Shaun Murphy was dumped out in the first round by 19 year old Chinese amateur Si Jiahui.  Murphy claimed that it was wrong that amateurs should be allowed to compete when it was the professionals livelihoods.  I'm afraid that it sounds a little bit like sour grapes to me - if he isn't good enough to beat an amateur, then he doesn't deserve to progress any further in the tournament.  There were no such worries for John Higgins or Kyren Wilson, who both won comfortably.  Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Selby and Mark Williams are among the big names in action today.

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I went to the opticians the other day and was stunned to find out I am colour blind.  That one came right out of the orange!