Walkadina at Cheltenham

     Walkadina runs at Cheltenham Today

The good news is that Cheltenham only had 7mm of rain overnight, there are no problems and we have a good afternoon of racing to look forward to.  We have one runner on the opening day of the November meeting, Walkadina who runs in the opening race of the day at 1.10pm, the conditional jockeys handicap hurdle over 2m5f and Rian Corcoran rides.  This is her seasonal reappearance and this time last season she put in a breath-taking performance to win on her come back run to win at Uttoxeter.  This race is much tougher than that but she steps up in trip for the first time which should suit and Rian claims a very valuable ten pounds in this race which will be a huge help.  She is about 11/2 third best in the betting and while it is very competitive 19 runner handicap I would hope she will be there come the finish.  Rian had his first professional win the other day which will have boosted his confidence, if it needed boosting and I hope we are cheering them up the hill at approx 1.15pm!

There are two other jumps meetings today at Southwell and Newcastle, while in Ireland it is just a flat meeting at Dundalk this evening.  The Cheltenham card has lots of interesting horses to look out for but the feature race is the Schloer chase at 2.55pm for which Jonbon is the short priced favourite.  On the conditions of the race, Jonbon will be very difficult to beat and another interesting favourite comes in the last race, Alphonse Le Grande for trainer Tony Martin.  He looks very attractively treated on his very good flat form and while is doesn't always translate I think he should more than enough raw ability to win this.  He won the Cesarewitch in 2024 and has a current flat rating of 93 and he runs over hurdles today off a mark of 96.  I shall be watching with interest!

There are sales after racing and David went up to Cheltenham yesterday and has looked at all the horses.  If anyone would like to know more about any of them please do get in touch and David will be staying for the sales afterwards.

Last night in the football, England were comfortable 2-0 winners at home to Serbia but it was not the most exciting match to watch!  There was a great win for Ireland who beat Portugal 2-0 and Ronaldo was even sent off for the visitors.  Northern Ireland are in action this evening in a World Cup qualifier away to Slovakia.  There is Premiership rugby action this evening as Gloucester play Bath while Exeter Chiefs are away at Sale.

When my daughter was seven years old she once interrupted a bedtime story to tell me, "in a pie eating contest, it doesn't matter if you win or lose because you get to eat the pie".

I think about that a lot.

Have a great Friday!