Two runners Today

Today there are three jumps meetings, at Newton Abbot, Perth and Worcester and the stable has a runner at two of them.  Belguardo is making his racecourse debut in division one of the bumper at 2.15pm with Fergus Gillard on board.  He is a handsome looking son of Kapgarde who has taken a while to come to hand but our five year old goes nicely at home and it will be interesting to see how he gets on and handles the whole experience.  Fergus knows him well having ridden him a lot at home and they have him about fifth in the betting at 9/1.  It looks a competitive enough race with several big yards involved but whatever he does today he should learn a lot for the experience.

Al Roc is our sole representative at Newton Abbot, in the 2.35pm handicap chase over 2m5f and Philip Armson rides.  Our veteran chaser ran well to finish second at Plumpton over slightly further last time and returned with a nasty cut which couldn't have helped his cause during the race.  He has recovered well though and has been slowly finding his form for the yard having been given a chance by the handicapper.  He is a multiple winner in France over fences and hurdles over this sort of trip and if the cheek pieces have the same effect second time around he shouldn't be far away this afternoon.  It is raining again at Pond House this morning and any rain falling at either track will not inconvenience our runners.

Alongside the jumping action today there are also two flat meetings at Bath and York and they race on the flat at Gowran Park in Ireland.  Today is of course day 1 of the Ebor meeting at York and you have Group action with two races, a Group 2 and a Group 3 plus competitive handicaps to make up a cracking card.  At 3.00pm there is the Duke of York Stakes over 6 Furlongs while the following race at 3.35pm is for the girls, the Muisidora Stakes over 1m2f.  Frankie Dettori rides the short priced favourite Emily Upjohn for John and Thady Gosden in this, she was the impressive winner at Sandown last time and looks the one they all have to beat.  I have never been to York but I am told it is a fantastic place to go, a great atmosphere, value for money with some fantastic action to watch.  Hopefully I may get to visit one day!

I was watching the Aston Villa versus Liverpool football match last night on the TV and Liverpool ground out a vital three points in the Premiership title race.  Man City are still in the driving seat with the teams level on points but they have a game in hand.  They play away to Wolves this evening and I know my nan will be watching cheering on her team, who are not the title contenders by the way!  It was interesting to know that Brazilian footballer Coutinho who played for Aston Villa last night (he is on loan from Barcelona) could have a runner in Ireland at Naas on Sunday.  He owns part of two year old Olivia Maralda with Amo racing and it will be interesting to see how this 460,000 guineas purchase, trained by Michael O'Callaghan gets on.

Enjoy all the action today everyone.