Newbury on the Flat

         Talap runs at Newbury Today

We have just the one runner on the flat today, Talap.  He runs in the final race on the card at Newbury, the 5.26pm handicap over 1m4f and Tom Queally rides.  He heads the weights in this competitive looking 20 runner field for horses rated 0-72.  It looks quite an open race but I would like to think we have a good each way chance.  The ground is a bit different than when he won at Windsor on his latest start but I actually think he will prefer todays quicker conditions.  He is a six time winner on the level who has won on a variety of ground and it is nice Tom Queally was available to ride again.  The track should suit and hopefully a repeat of his last run will see him not too far away.

Last night at Worcester Micronormous ran well to be third.  It was her best hurdling effort to date and was a definite step back in the right direction.  She jumped and travelled well and held every chance at the last, battling on well and was not beaten very far in the end.  Hopefully this will hive given her a lot of confidence and I am sure she can be winning a similar contest going forwards.

There is one jumps meeting this evening at Aintree while earlier in the day there is flat racing is at Newbury, Newmarket and York.  They race at Hamilton this evening while in Ireland they race on the flat at Leopardstown and over jumps at Downpatrick.  There are some good, competitive races up at Aintree and the final race of the night is a point to point bumper.  There are a few interesting types in the field and I imagine a few of them maybe for sale afterwards! At York it is the final day of their Dante meeting with the Yorkshire Cup at 3.35pm the feature race.  Quickthorn for Hughie Morrison and Oisin Murphy just head the betting with Broome for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore second best.  There is no Frankie Dettori in this race so one of these to may win it!  Meanwhile at Newbury, it is the first day of their Lockinge meeting.  They have plenty of runners throughout the day but no real feature races.  

Last night in the football Newcastle beat Brighton comfortably 4-0, while West Ham beat AZ Alkmaar to progress through to the final of the Europa Conference League.   After semi-finals in the Europa League itself last night the final will be Roma against Sevilla. There are no Premiership football matches this evening.

I hired a handy man and gave him a list.  When I got home, only items number 1, 3 and 5 were done.  Turns out, he only does odd jobs!  Happy Friday!