Three at Lingfield!

                Kingofthewest runs today!
Today we have three runners at Lingfield, Iceo Madrik, Kingofthewest and Activist with Jack Tudor on board the first two and Gearoid Harney has his first ride back on Activist.  Iceo Madrik runs in the staying handicap chase at 3.00pm over 3m5f, he heads the weights but is the outside of the field.  He ran okay over hurdles on his seasonal reappearance at Newbury but then was disappointing at Plumpton last time in the Sussex National.  I thought he might run well that day but after travelling and jumping well for the first circuit he stopped rather quickly after that.  The ground was probably not soft enough that day, but I am not sure that explains the run but he enjoys soft conditions and stays well so todays conditions should be fine.  The handicapper continues to give him some help and I imagine he will be ridden slightly differently today in a slightly lower grade of race.  His French form wasn’t bad but he is yet to reproduce that over here, fingers crossed we might see a bit more today.

Kingofthewest runs in the 4.10pm handicap chase over 2m4f and is about 7/2 second best in the betting.  He was a game winner at Chepstow last time when given a good ride by Harry Cobden who filled in for Jack who was at a different meeting.  A win didn’t look likely for much of the race but to the horses credit he responded well for pressure from the last and was doing his best work late on.  The handicapper only put him up three pounds for that win which shouldn’t be beyond him and hopefully the win would have done his confidence the world of good as it had been a while between drinks so to speak.  I think he has a good chance.

Activist runs in the concluding race on the card, a conditional jockeys handicap hurdle over two miles.  He is a winner on the flat in France but has been a little disappointing over hurdles to date.  He had a valid excuse when last in action however, as he suffered a nasty cut in the race which took a while to get over.  He has had a nice long break since then and is in good form at home.  He certainly works like he has ability so hopefully after his break we will see his true colours this afternoon.  He is about 11/1 in the betting but I think he has an each way chance racing off a mark of 89.  This is Gearoid Harney’s first ride back after breaking his collarbone, amongst other injuries in a fall at Taunton at the end of December.  He had due to be riding at Bangor on Friday and Uttoxeter on Saturday before they were abandoned so he is very happy to be back in action this afternoon.

As well as jumps action at Lingfield today, there is racing at Ayr while there is also flat action on the all-weather at Newcastle.  In Ireland they race over jumps at Thurles.

Well done to Sean Bowen, who had his first winner back since returning from injury at Catterick yesterday.  He moved one in front of Harry Cobden for a little while but he responded with a winner at Plumpton so they are back level again.  Don’t worry I don’t plan to mention the jockeys title every day until the end of the season but it was just nice that Sean is back riding winners. 

Last night in the football, there was one Premier League match Crystal Palace and Chelsea. Chelsea came into this game on the back of an impressive FA Cup win at Aston Villa and took to victory again winning 3-1. Tonight see’s the return of Champions League action and Manchester City are in action away to FC Copenhagen in the round of 16.  The Danish team proved a thorn in the side of Manchester United but I am sure City will have no trouble with this opposition.  The other match this evening is RP Leipzig against Real Madrid.

I am writing a book in reverse psychology.

Please do not buy it!

Have a great dat!