Boxing Day Bumper Double

       No Walkover Winner at Aintree

It was a super Boxing Day for the team yesterday with an across the card bumper double all in the space of about 30mins! Red Wine Supernova was given a lovely ride by Rian Corcoran as he followed the leaders, brought her through to challenge round the home bend and then she took the lead on the bridle as the pace quickened.  He then pushed her out hands and heels inside the last half a furlong and it was a comfortable win over the favourite.  She promised to do this from all she has shown at home but it is always good when they produce it on the track.  I am sure she will be kept to Bumpers for now and there is the nice Listed mares contest at Market Rasen at the end of January, the race Kingston Queen won last year.  Just my thoughts but perhaps we will follow the same route!  She is a lovely mare with a great attitude and it was the best start possible for her professional career and a great first win for her new small group of owners.

  Red Wine Supernova Winner at Sedgefield

No Walkover was equally as impressive in winning the bumper at Aintree, carrying a penalty he quickened right away from his rivals inside the last furlong under Jack Tudor.  He was still a bit keen early in the race but it just shows what an engine he has with an attitude to match.  It is never easy to give away a penalty in a bumper, especially against some well regarded opposition and this rates his performance even higher.  Jack felt he would prefer the ground a bit softer than it was yesterday but he handled it well and he has a very bright future.  I would imagine he will be sticking to bumpers this season and we surely have to consider the Champion bumper at Cheltenham in March.

It was a cracking day of Boxing Day racing yesterday with particular highlights away from our own horses being Sir Gino winning the Christmas hurdle and the thrilling King George.  Sir Gino is now favourite for the Champion hurdle and rightly so, whereas the King George showed up a tremendous four way finish with The Jukebox Man just coming out on top from last year's winner Banbridge.  It is not very often in a three mile chase, especially at the top level that you get four horses jumping the last upsides, all jumping it well and fighting out the finish with their jockeys at their strongest and that will live long in the memory and is what racing needs to showcase our sport to the outside World.  Well done to Harry Redknapp, Ben Pauling and Ben Jones.  Well done to jockey Jack Tudor as well as he rode his first ever treble up at Aintree yesterday.  

The is another feast of racing and sporting action to look forward to today and we have one runner at Chepstow, Activist.  He runs in the 12.30pm handicap hurdle over two miles and Jack Tudor rides.  He has had just the two starts so far this season and after initially disappointing he had a wind op and didn't run too badly at Leicester last time.  He is a little bit of a quirky character but he wins his fair share of races and if he takes the anticipated step forward from last time then I hope he has a good chance this afternoon.  It is competitive race and he is about 9/1 in the betting so I hope he has a good each way chance.

The feature of the day is of course the Welsh Grand National at 2.50pm.  It is always a great spectacle and it looks a good 19 runner renewal this afternoon.  I haven't got any strong fancies but O'Connell would be my choice for an in form team if you asked me to pick one!  There is another very good card at Kempton with Desert Orchid Chase the feature and I think the Skelton team will win this one.  There is also jumping action at Wetherby and in Ireland there are two jumps fixtures at Leopardstown and Limerick with the all-weather action again coming from Wolverhampton this afternoon.  While it might not be quite as busy as yesterday there is plenty of very good races to look forward to.

Manchester United won 1-0 at home to Newcastle last night and there are plenty of Premiership matches today.  Nottingham Forest against Manchester City is the early kick off at 12.30pm while Chelsea versus Aston Villa is the tea time match at 5.30pm.

England have beaten Australia to win the fourth Ashes test in Melbourne.  The whole test only lasted two days and is the first win for England down under in the last 12 years or more!

Mariah Carey opened her Christmas present and it was a deed for a plot of land in a residential zone.

She was disappointed and said, "I don't want a lot for Christmas".

Happy Christmas Saturday!