Thanksforthethird

Thanksforthehelp ran well to finish third in the 2m3f conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle at the Punchestown Festival yesterday afternoon, our five year old gelding beaten only 2½ lengths under Shane Fitzgerald on his handicap debut.  He looked likely to go close to winning but a couple of awkward landings in the closing stages meant that he was always playing catch-up.  The times suggested that the watered ground was quite testing, but he acquitted himself very well and is a nice prospect for next season and beyond.  There are sure to be plenty of races to be won with him judged on this evidence.

Allaho was very impressive in winning the Punchestown Gold Cup yesterday, drawing right away on the run-in to land a facile fourteen length success.  Meanwhile, in this country, Princess Zoe was a very game winner of the Gold Cup Trial at Ascot yesterday.  There was a bunch finish, with less than a length separating the first four home and whilst I would be a little surprised if this result had a tremendous bearing on the outcome of the main event in June, the winner did finish a gallant runner-up last year.

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat action from Redcar, Musselburgh and Chepstow and all-weather fixtures from Lingfield and Chelmsford.  David does not have any runners today.  Kolisi was due to contest the 2m handicap hurdle at Punchestown but did not make the cut.  Even so, we are back with runners at the big Irish festival tomorrow when Adagio takes on Honeysuckle.

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Liverpool looked good yesterday evening as they beat Villareal 2-0 at Anfield in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.  With Manchester City also a goal to the good after their first leg, could it be another all-English final like last year?

There is Premiership action to look forward to tonight with Manchester United hosting Chelsea in an interesting clash.  United could be without several key players and to be honest, have looked pretty awful with them in recent matches!  The visitors look favourites to get a result here.

Judd Trump will face Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan will play John Higgins in the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield.  The matches, which are best of 33 frames, get underway today.

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My wife caught me standing on the bathroom scales the other day, sucking in my stomach. "Ha! That’s not going to help", she said. "Sure, it does" I said. "It’s the only way I can see the numbers."