2 Runners At Stratford

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with a jumps card from Stratford, flat fixtures from Pontefract and Windsor and all-weather action from Wolverhampton.  David has two runners today at Stratford, Al Roc and Master Blaze (pictured above).  Al Roc contests the 2m6½f conditional jockeys' handicap chase at 1.00pm.  He has won four times this season and is now 5lbs below his last winning mark, so he has claims on that basis, although he has some disappointing efforts recently to overcome.  Philip Amson is in the saddle.

Our other runner is Master Blaze, who runs in the 2m2½f novices' handicap hurdle at 3.55pm.  The winner of a chase in France, he was a little disappointing in three starts over hurdles last season but is lower in the weights now.  He has had a wind operation in the interim and has decent prospects under Tom Scudamore.

There was no joy at Uttoxeter yesterday afternoon with Colony Queen getting no further than the third on her hurdling debut.  She could well have been distracted by the loose horse when unseating Tom Scu.  A very useful horse on the flat, she has schooled well at home so I am sure there will be other days for her.  Meanwhile, Katpoli finished third on his debut for the stable in the 2m handicap chase.

Alpinista ran out a brave winner of the Arc yesterday at Longchamp, beating French Derby winner Vadeni and last year's winner Torquator Tasso.  What a great training performance from Sir Mark Prescott, who has campaigned her largely overseas to collect six successive Group 1 races.  I thought Torquator Tasso, my selection, was coming with a winning run, but the line was always coming a bit too soon.  It would have been interesting to see the reaction to Christophe Soumillon if he had won aboard Vadeni, although on balance, perhaps it is a good job that he didn't!

Following the abandonment of Thursday's meeting at Exeter, I see that Ludlow have had to do the same ahead of Wednesday's card as, despite plenty of recent showers, the ground is still too firm for jumping action at present.

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Manchester United were on the receiving end of a 6-3 thumping by local rivals City yesterday.  United had seen un upturn in fortunes in recent weeks, although yesterday's outcome shows that they still have a long way to go if they are going to be challenging anytime soon.  Arsenal remain top of the Premiership after they beat Spurs 3-1 on Saturday.

Sergio Perez won an eventful Singapore Grand Prix for Red Bull yesterday from the Ferrari's of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.  In changeable conditions, there were a number of drivers who ended up in the barriers, including Lewis Hamilton.  Max Verstappen finished only seventh after a difficult weekend but is likely to clinch the title at the next race in Japan.

The Minnesota Vikings won in London yesterday, beating the New Orleans Saints 28-25, although they still have plenty to work on.  They looked by far the better of the two teams for much of the match, but still managed to give their opponents the chance to take the game to overtime - a field goal attempt as time expired hitting the left upright and crossbar before bouncing back into the endzone...much to my relief!  The Vikes are now 3-0 playing in London - perhaps they should come back more often?!

Ryan Day was a 10-7 winner of the British Open snooker final yesterday, beating Mark Allen.  Allen had been in good form all week, so this was certainly a bit of a surprise.  Veteran Day was winning his fourth ranking event in the process.

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Some people have been complaining that my jokes are childish.  That is nonsense, anyone can see that they're full groan!