Cheltenham is Back

 American Sniper runs at Cheltenham Today

Today we have the first meeting at Cheltenham this season and we have one runner in the opening race on the card, American Sniper.  He runs in the 1.15pm handicap hurdle over 2m3f and James Davies rides.  His form can be a little in and out but he is a good horse on his day and he is a real loveable character.  He looks to have it all to do in today's race and he is quite a big price.  Jack Tudor chose to ride Christian Williams' runner in this race, Last Rodeo.  That one is very lightly raced but did win on his last start at Lingfield last season.  I don't think Christian would be running him here for a day out so he could be interesting at 16/1 in the betting.

There is some good, competitive jumps racing today at Cheltenham which is the only National Hunt fixture of the day.  There is flat action at Doncaster, Newbury and Southwell while in Ireland they have jumps racing at Sligo this afternoon and a flat fixture on the all-weather at Dundalk this evening.

We made Bashful Boy a non-runner at Nottingham yesterday because of the ground which changed to soft, heavy in places.  They had a fair bit of rain overnight and with more rain forecast during the day we thought we would save our nine year old for another day.  The racing was on the TV in the background in the office yesterday and there seemed to be plenty of drama at both jumps meetings at Fontwell and Ludlow.  Harry Cobden brought down Sean Bowen and another horse at the opening flight of hurdles in the first race and both jockeys were stood down for the rest of their rides on the day but they should be back in action today.  They were both reported to be sore but are made of strong stuff1 In one of the chases at Fontwell, there were plenty of fallers and one horse finished alone and the same happened at Ludlow with three horses setting off but one fell and the other unseated which left another sole finisher.  There were inspections held at Ludlow during the afternoon with slippery conditions underfoot and it was finally abandoned before the final race of the day.  It is not easy for racecourses like Ludlow yesterday where the ground has been good to firm and then it rained on race day just making it slippery on top.  I don't think there will be any such problems at Cheltenham today as they began watering back in August and they missed the worst of the rain from storm Benjamin.

Keeping on the weather theme, unfortunately, Wincanton have lost their first intended jumps meeting of the season which was due to take place on Sunday.  Not enough rain has fallen this week to ensure the ground is safe and so the decision to abandoned was made yesterday.  Well done to the BHA and everyone involved though as they have put on an extra meeting at Fontwell on Sunday instead.  The ground looked soft there yesterday and it was great everyone worked together to get it organised so quickly.  Entries will be made this morning with declarations on Saturday morning, 24 hours, which has not been done for a while!  A couple of races will also been shown on ITV to replace the gaps left by Wincanton being abandoned.

Last night in the European football action, there was a welcome win for Nottingham Forest but losses for Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.  This evening, there is one Premiership game with Leeds against West Ham at 8pm.  The Twenty20 cricket match between New Zealand and England yesterday was abandoned because of rain.

I tapped my Uber driver on the shoulder and he screamed and swerved all over the road.

I said "a little jumpy?" and he said, "sorry, it's by first day with Uber.  I've been driving a hearse for 20 years!"

Happy Friday!