Rain Keeps Coming

There are no runners from Pond House today, we did have entries at Bangor but that was abandoned due to waterlogging on Monday.  We do have some jumps action to watch however as they race at Catterick this afternoon.  They host the Yorkshire National at 2.50pm and we considered making some entries but it is a race that has not been that lucky for us in the past and so we decided against it in the end with it being quite a long drive to get there is well.  We ran a horse called Shaking Hands in it one year and he fell at the first and last year Sidi Ismael fell mid race!  There are only seven runners but it looks a competitive race with Bushy Park trained by Phil Kirby just shading favouritism.

 I notice that Harry Cobden goes up to ride two runners for trainer Milton Harris.  It is not a course I imagine he has ridden much at during his career so far but he has a great chance of a couple of winners.  El Muchacho runs in the concluding handicap hurdle on the card at 3.55pm and runs under a penalty for a recent win and looks like he will be tough to beat.  Earlier in the card, he rides the second favourite in the novices hurdle, Copshill Lad.  This is the horses second run after a wind operation and it could be a nice double for Harry who is in red hot form at the moment.

In Ireland they are due to race at Clonmel but they must pass a 7.30am inspection.  The course is currently heavy and with strong winds and more rain forecast so they might need a bit of luck for racing to go ahead.  There are two all-weather meetings in Britain today with a flat card at Newcastle this afternoon and Chelmsford this evening.

It was nice to read that jockey Nick Scholfield is likely to return to action at the weekend.  He has not been riding since September when he had to have surgery on an ankle injury.  Nick has ridden a few winners for Pond House over the years and is a good rider who learnt his trade on the west country point to point circuit.  He hopes to be back to ride Stag Horn in the Lanzarote hurdle at Kempton and he is currently a 20/1 chance for the race. 

I didn’t get to watch any of the football action last night but Wolves drew with Nottingham Forest 1-1 and the game went to penalties which Forest won 4-3 and progress to the semi-finals.  In the other match there was a bit of a surprise as Southampton, who are struggling in the League, beat Manchester City 2-0.  There is one Premier League game this evening with Fulham at home to Chelsea.  Chelsea need to bounce back from two defeats to Man City and need to score some goals.  I see they have signed the Portuguese Atletico Madrid striker Joao Felix on loan for £9.7 million for the rest of the season.  More eye watering money but hopefully he can score them some goals!

My dad used to say to me ‘when one door closes another will open’.  He was a brilliant philosopher but a terrible cabinet maker!  Have a good day.