Boxing Day Runners!

    Kingofthewest runs today at Wincanton!

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed a fabulous Christmas day whatever you may have been up to, but for many sporting fans, Boxing day is the best day of the Christmas period with plenty of action for us all to watch. Today we have seven runners across four different meetings. The lorries are travelling far and wide and hopefully we may grab a winner.

The earliest lorry to set off was the one to market Rasen where via Dante is our only representative. He runs in the 1.15pm novices handicap Chase over 2m7f and David Noonan rides. his form figures do not read that good to the naked eye, but he would have won on his last start at Newton Abbot if he had not come to grief at the second last fence when clear of his rivals. He has fallen on both of his chase starts, but he is in fact a very good jumper, believe it or not! He picked up an injury during that fall at Newton Abbot and this is his first run back from a break. He is in good form at home and I would like to think he has a good chance at about 3/1 in the betting. There has been money for the Lucinda Russell trained horse in the race, but like us that one’s form figures don’t give much away. With a clear round, I hope via Dante will not be far away in the colours of the David pipe racing club.

Our racing club has two runners today, the other is at Fontwell, Behind the curtain. He is one of two runners at the track with them being made up of Behind the curtain and Paricolor. Makanao was due to run there too but unfortunately won't be running today as he's not quite right this morning, so he will wait for another day! Behind the curtain returned from a long absence last month at Exeter but unfortunately got no further than the first fence! That fall was due to over exuberance and he has schooled well at home since. He has ability and with a clear round It will be interesting to see how we got gets on in this. He is one of the outsiders at about 14/1 but with Gearoid Harney in the saddle I wouldn’t be surprised to see him run okay. Paricolor completes our Fontwell lineup and Gearoid Harney is in the saddle again. He has run well in two starts to date this season, both at Cheltenham he returns to calmer Waters today. The trip of 3m2f is a little unknown, but I don’t see why that will be a problem and he looks a nice each way price at 9/1.

We have two runners, a bit more local to Home at Wincanton, Duc De Beauchene and KingoftheWest. Both of these horses are ridden by Jack Tudor who has a full book of rides this afternoon. Duc De Beauchene runs in the 1:28 pm handicap Chase over 3 miles and will appreciate a return to this trip after dropping back to 2m4f last time. He has yet to get going in two starts so far but the handicapper is giving him a chance so hopefully we may see him in better light. He is a course winner but again is one of the outsiders in this field. Kingofthewest runs in the 2:03pm, 2m4f handicap chase having run well over course and distance last time. Hopefully Wincanton have not got too much rain and he may appreciate the drier conditions today than he got last time out. he is 3/1 second Best in the betting and is probably our best chance of a winner this afternoon.

We have one runner on the flat today. Stray bullet runs in the concluding race on the Wolverhampton card at 5:35pm, a handicap over 1m4f. This will be his first start on the flat for the yard and while things haven’t quite gone to plan over hurdles to date I put this down to the very soft ground he has encountered. he is a two-time winner on the flat in France and it will be interesting to see how he gets on in this. He is about 14/1 in the betting and promising apprentice Jack Enright claiming seven pounds rides There is, of course plenty of racing action this afternoon with the focus, perhaps being on Kempton and the king George at 2:30pm. There are only seven runners, but it is a high-quality field and I think the prize may go back to Ireland with Allaho who is the current race favourite.

Apart from the courses I have mentioned, there is also jump action at Aintree, Wetherby and Sedgefield. There is just the one flat meeting on the all weather at Wolverhampton and in Ireland they have three jumps meetings with lots of runners at Leopardstown, Limerick and Down Royal.

After work this morning, I plan to sit down and watch as much as the action as possible, so I hope you enjoy watching too! There are also a few premiership football matches this afternoon, the early kickoff is Newcastle against Nottingham Forest at 12:30 pm. Burnley against Liverpool is a 5:30 pm start while Manchester United are at home to Aston Villa, 8 pm kickoff and this looks a tough game for United. Well done to my Nan’s team, wolves who beat Chelsea on Christmas Eve, this was her best Christmas present!

The only present I got for Christmas was as deck of sticky playing cards.

I am having a hard time dealing with it!!

I hope you all have a great boxing day, whatever you may be up to!