Koi Seeking a Win?

Today we just have the one runner, Koi Dodville at Leicester ridden by amateur Gearoid Harney.  He runs in the 3.00pm novices handicap chase over 2m4f and he is about 6/1 third best in the betting.  He ran well at the course last time over slightly further to be second and re-opposes the rival that won the race that day, Flann.  We have a six pound turnaround in the weights this afternoon for a 4.5 length beating.  Hopefully that should bring us closer together today and the drop in trip won’t inconvenience our five year old.  The favourite for the race is the Chris Gordon trained Highway One O Three who is running with a seven pound penalty after winning at Market Rasen this week.  There are only four runners in the race, in fact there is small fields throughout the Leicester card due to the quick ground.  Koi Dodville doesn’t mind this ground and if he puts in a similar display to last time then he should be right in the mix.  This cannot always be guaranteed so it will be a watching brief for me but he is a horse with real character and hopefully he can run well.

There are two hunter chases on the Leicester card but they also have small field sizes.  Martin McIntyre rides in the first of these on a horse called Too Many Diamonds.  On paper he looks to have it all to do in this race but his jockey is in form having ridden a point to point winner at Larkhill over the weekend.

Today there is also jumping action at Catterick while they also race on the all-weather at Southwell.  Both tracks racing today over jumps have an inability to water at the moment which has affected the fields sizes in today’s races.  There is only one double figure field size race across the two jumps meetings with only two of the races attracting eight or more runners.  There is no rain in the immediate forecast but hopefully some will fall soon!

Cheltenham Festival handicap weights are released later today and while we don’t have that many heading to Prestbury Park we will be keeping a close eye on the Pertemps race to see the chances of him getting in the race.  We know he is going up 11 pounds for his win at Chepstow on Saturday and that gives him a sporting chance of making the line-up should we want to run.  

The FA Cup fifth round football action returns this evening and a fixture that catches the eye for me is Bristol City are at home to Manchester City, kick off 8.00pm.  Ashton Gate with be buzzing and I hope Bristol can put up a good performance but the visitors are likely to just be too powerful for the home side.

At the close of play on the fourth day of the New Zealand against England Test match, England look on the brink of victory once again.  New Zealand were all out in their second innings for 483 and set England a target of needing 258 runs to win.  They ended the day on 48-1 therefore needing 210 to win on Day 5 so fingers crossed they can keep their nerve and see out another win.

Which body part is most reliable? Well, you can always count on your fingers! Happy Tuesday!