Slightly Warmer

Temperatures have increased a little here at Pond House and while there is no frost this morning, after some rain and sleet yesterday afternoon and clear skies early this morning the roads were a little slippery on my travels into work this morning.  There is no jumps racing to worry about today with Leicester having been called off on Monday but there are two all-weather fixtures at Lingfield and Kempton.  It seems a little strange they are not very far apart from each other these courses but Lingfield is afternoon racing and Kempton is an evening fixture.  We did have Bashful Boy declared to run at Kempton this evening but that was purely in case Wolverhampton was abandoned yesterday and therefore no runners for the team today.

Wolverhampton went ahead yesterday and there was some forward thinking from everyone involved with racing put back by one hour to ensure racing went ahead.  I thought Bashful Boy would win yesterday so I was a little disappointed that he didn't but he did run well enough to finish third.  He was a bit of a monkey out of the stalls and leapt in the air as the gates opened soon sat in a handy position but it was just a shame they did not go very quick in the race.  Wolverhampton is a sharper course than Kempton and Southwell and when the sprint for home began he was caught a bit flat footed.  It looked like he was going to be swallowed up by the entire field but to his credit he rallied well and finished strongly to keep third.  He was not beaten very far and the race was not run to suit.  He picked up more prize money and ran his race, the ability is definitely still there and he will win soon!

Things do not look quite a positive for jumps racing in the coming days as I first thought.  While there is no official update from Taunton this morning I would think they should be okay tomorrow while the extra meeting at Ffos Las will be fine as well.  Friday is looking a little more doubtful and while Exeter are quite hopeful they are currently un-raceable.  Declarations will be made this morning but they are likely to call an inspection tomorrow or Friday.  Huntingdon is the other meeting scheduled for Friday but they are not very confident and must pass a 9am check this morning.  The BHA have scheduled an extra all-weather meeting at Newcastle of Friday in anticipation that Huntingdon will not be going ahead I imagine.

I thought racing would be okay for Saturday but I am now not so sure!  The updates for Kempton, Warwick and Wetherby do not read that positively and they all need the better side of their forecasts for racing to go ahead and it sounds a similar story in Ireland.  There is some big races at both Kempton and Warwick and we have Gericault Roque in the Classic Chase at the latter.  What will be will be but again it just shows you, we can do our best but at the end of the day mother nature is in charge!

Things do not look good for West Ham who lost again last night, 2-1 at home to Nottingham Forrest.  They are firmly in the bottom three, a few points adrift of the teams above above and unless things improve dramatically they will be facing relegation.  There are eight Premiership matches this evening, six of them kicking off at 7.30pm while Burnley against a managerless Manchester United and Leeds against Newcastle both kick off at 8.15pm.

England managed to bowl Australia out for 567 in their first innings but it was the same old story in reply for England batting.  The highlight was a 142 not out for Jacob Bethell but England finish day four on 302-8, meaning they have a lead over Australia of 119.  All is not lost for England to salvage something out of this Test but I imagine the Australians will come out on top again.  

Not everyone thinks Cleopatra is beautiful....but that is how Julius Ceasar!

Have a good day!