Two at Newbury!

Unfortunately the weather has played it’s part in disrupting Saturday jumps racing with both Uttoxeter and Warwick abandoning their meetings on Friday morning.  We were due to have three runners at Uttoxeter which included Ramses De Teillee but he will now head to Exeter for the Veterans chase tomorrow.  Hopefully there are no problems at Newbury and we have two runners, American Sniper and Jilaijone.

American Sniper runs in the 1.30pm handicap hurdle over three miles and Jack Tudor rides.  There are already two non-runners at the time of writing and they were two of the more fancied runners in the field and we are about 6/1 third best in the betting.  He was a nice winner at Cheltenham November meeting and didn’t run too badly over a shorter trip at Taunton to be fourth when last in action.  He has had a little break since then and runs here fresh and well.  I think we would have preferred not so much rain to have fallen but he has finished second twice on soft ground so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.  He tackles three miles for only the second time since his Irish point to point and I hope that will bring about some improvement off his mark of 128.  It looks quite an open race but hopefully we have a good each way chance.

Jilaijone runs in the feature Betfair hurdle at 3pm with Jack Tudor on board.  He has been given a little break since Sandown where he had a very rare poor run but he is normally one to rely on for effort and consistency.  I think the ground had a lot to do with his Sandown run and even though it will be testing today, it will not be ‘Sandown’ testing.  Sandown can be very deep and hard work ground when it rains and it does not suit many horses when it gets that bad.  Jilaijone is a big price today and probably has it all to do but he is a very likeable little horse and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him outrun his odds.  He stays further than two miles which you will need to today and hopefully he can arrive late on the scene and pick up some prize money. 

It is a great Newbury card away from our runners and five line up for the Denman chase at 2.05pm.  Shishkin heads the market and providing he jumps off I expect him to take all the beating.  The Game Spirit chase at 2.40pm is a little more difficult to call but my tentative selection would be Boothill to resume winning ways.  There are plenty of runners in all the races and I shall be watching Newbury while keeping an eye on the rugby!

Hopefully in Ireland they have jumps racing in at Naas while this side of the Irish sea there are two all-weather meetings at Newcastle and Wolverhampton.

Yesterday at Kempton all the horses ran well to be placed but no winners!  Tough Approach ran his best race to date over hurdles to be second.  After a couple of disappointing efforts a step back in the right direction was what we were looking for and it was great to see him do that.  Shot Boii was going extremely well having jumped well until a mistake at the last down the far side basically ended his chances.  He was going well in second when that happened and he actually did well to stay on his feet to be honest.  That knocked him right back and it was effectively race over but to the horses credit he rallied again and managed to grab third close home.  He is definitely a better chaser than hurdler already and I think he would have given the winner something to think about at the very least had this not happened.  First Lord Du Cuet finished fourth in a competitive chase.  He was upsides in front throughout but proved a sitting duck jumping the third last and Jack looked after him when beaten.  It was a solid run and he deserves to find a race!

We have weekend two of the Six Nations rugby and Scotland play France at Murray field at 2.15pm.  England play Wales at Twickenham at 4.45pm.   

There are seven Premier League matches today with the early kick of being Manchester City at home to Everton at 12.30pm.  The tea-time kick off is Nottingham Forest at home to Newcastle.

I got tired of being judged for going bald so I went out and bought a cheap wig…

It was a small price toupee!!

Have a great sporting Saturday!