Big Day

         No Walkover runs at Newbury

It is a big day for the yard today with four important runners spread across two meetings.  Warwick has passed it's morning inspection so we have two jumps meetings to look forward to today, there and at Newbury.  There are two all-weather flat meetings at Lingfield and Southwell and in Ireland they have a jumps card at Naas.  We have Kingston Queen and Phantomofthepoints running at Warwick and Itseemslikeit and No Walkover at Newbury.

Our first runner of the day will be Kingston Queen in the 3.00pm Jane Seymour novices hurdle, Grade 2 contest at Warwick over 2m3f and Conor O'Farrell rides.  She is favourite for this valuable mares event which was moved from Sandown after it was abandoned on Friday.  She is a lovely mare who we hold in very high regard.  Her bumper form in rock solid and her two runs over hurdles this season haven't been too bad either!  She beat subsequent Grade 2 winner Kripticjim at Chepstow on debut and then finished third to Supreme novices hurdle favourite Old Park Star at Cheltenham last time.  She will prefer going back up in distance today and while the heavy ground is a little bit of an unknown I don't see why she will not handle it.  She seems in very good form at home and I think (and hope!) she can win today.

Phantomofthepoints runs in the 4.10pm handicap hurdle over 2m5f and Rian Corcoran rides.  He made an excellent seasonal reappearance to be third at Haydock before falling at Uttoxeter on chasing debut.  He finished fourth at Haydock last time when probably not at his best but he is second in the betting today and I don't think he will be too far away.  Rian's seven pounds off will be a big help and he won't mind the track or the ground.

Itseemslikeit runs in the 3.55pm handicap chase over three miles at Newbury and Jack Tudor rides.  He was due to be running at Uttoxeter today but with that meeting abandoned yesterday he switches to Newbury has we declared him as second preference here in case that happened.  The Uttoxeter race was definitely easier than this one but our gelding is progressive and is two from two since switched to chasing this season.  He will relish the ground and love the track.  He is not the quickest but stays all day and will keep galloping.  He is about fourth best in the betting which shows the competitive nature of the race but I hope he has a good chance.

Our final runner of the day is No Walkover in the listed bumper at Newbury at 4.30pm and Jack Tudor rides.  He is a very exciting horse who won narrowly on stable debut at Chepstow but put in a brilliant display at Aintree last time.  He will love the heavy conditions today and even though it is a very tough race I think he will take a lot of beating.  He is only going to improve with time and going over hurdles next season but if he runs well today he will be heading for the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham next month.

There is some good racing at bother Warwick and Newbury today with the latter, featuring the Denman and Game Spirit chases and the William Hill hurdle.  With all the rain around the country this week it is just great both meetings are going ahead and fingers crossed for our runners.

Leeds beat Nottingham Forrest 3-1 in the Premiership last night and there are plenty of games today.  The early kick off is Manchester United at home to Spurs at 12.30pm while the tea-time kick off is Newcastle at home to Brentford at 5.30pm.  

England play Wales at Twickenham this afternoon at 4.40pm to get their Six Nations tournament underway while Scotland travel to Italy a little earlier in the day to play at 2.10pm.  There is a local rivalry rugby Premiership game this afternoon with Exeter Chiefs away to the Bristol Bears at 2.00pm.

There was a good opening ceremony at the Winter Olympics last night which included performances from Andrea Bocelli and Mariah Carey so the Games are officially underway.  There is more curling and ice hockey today but we also have skiing, snowboarding, speed skating and luge all to look forward to today. 

There was a Roman Emperor who never aged after he turned 19.

His name was Constant Teen.

Have a great Saturday!