Birthday Girl

   Sizing Pottsie Runs Lingfield today - If On!

Well today’s Blog was a little tricky to pre-write yesterday with Lingfield calling a 4pm Saturday afternoon inspection.  I’m hedging my bets that it is going to be called off after looking at the weather forecast I just can’t see how temperatures are going to rise and conditions are going to improve enough for racing to go ahead.  It will be such a shame for Lingfield if they have lost both of their days jump action of the Winter Million Festival but there is not much anyone can do about the weather.  Should racing be on we do have two runners at Lingfield, Lock Out and Sizing Pottsie.  Lock Out runs in the 12.30pm novices handicap hurdle with Tom Scu on board.  He will appreciate going back left handed and stepping up in distance for the first time today.  It looks a wide open competitive race but hopefully he will not be too far away.

Sizing Pottsie heads the weights in the 4pm two mile handicap chase with Tom Scu on board.  The race looks tailor made for him on testing going so it will be a real shame if it is off.  He was not at his best in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton last time but with his sights lowered slightly today we are hopeful of a good run.  If racing does not go ahead, he has the option of going for the re-scheduled Clarence House chase at Cheltenham next Saturday.  This race was lost at Ascot yesterday and because it was an early closing race that was abandoned, entries revert to the original ones and we have a chance to go for the race if we want to.  It is something we will definitely consider tomorrow although we have him entered at Doncaster on Friday as well.

Fakenham were due to race today but their meeting was called off on Friday.  There could be some jumping action in Ireland at Thurles while there will definitely be action on the all-weather at Lingfield and Newcastle today.  Things do look a little more promising for Monday.  They have put on an extra jumps meeting at Ffos Las and at the moment it looks like this will go ahead without any issues and the stable has two runners, Little Red Lion and Shot Boii.

Hopefully today I shall be heading just a couple of miles out of Wellington for my most local point to point at Chipley Park.  At the time of writing, believe it or not, they are not too worried about conditions and racing is likely to go ahead.  There are plenty of entries and they always get a large crowed so fingers crossed it should be a good afternoon out with plenty of local jockeys and trainers in action.  I shall report back tomorrow with any significant news.

The most important information I must tell you about today however is that it is young Martha Pipe’s seventh birthday.  She has been counting down the days, hours and seconds to the big day and is a little bit excited about her special day.  A meal out for lunch followed by tea and cake for the family is planned for today while she is having a pamper party with friends in a few day’s time!

Any Murray looked rather tired in the opening set of his third round match in the Australia Open yesterday morning and lost it 6-1 but that is to be expected and he fought back well in the second to win it on a tie-break.  Unfortunately he lost the next two sets however and was knocked out by the Spaniard, Batista Agut.

Today there are some Premier League football matches to look forward to with Man City kicking off against Wolves at 2pm and this is followed by the big one, Arsenal against Manchester United at 4.30pm.  Arsenal are in such good form at the moment so it will be tough for United but I think it will be good if my team can win and keep the title race wide open.  If Arsenal win they are nicely clear of Man City and Man United so things will be tough for everyone chasing them but if they don’t pick up three points this afternoon then it certainly keeps things a little more interesting. 

Where do rainbows go when they’re bad? 

Prism.

It’s a light sentence! 

Have a lovely Sunday!