Three At Taunton

We have three runners this afternoon at Taunton.  On Khee (Tom Scudamore) and The Tatkin (Mr Keiron Edgar) participate in the mares' novices' hurdle at 12.30pm, while Gaspara takes part in the closing handicap hurdle at 3.05pm and will be ridden by young Frank Hayes.

The ground at Bangor went from good/soft to soft yesterday afternoon and the runners finished very tired and some of them were clearly finding it difficult to jump out of the ground.  The stable's two runners found it very testing - I would imagine more so in the case of Martial Law, who was last seen racing in Australia!  This was his hurdling debut and his jumping improved as the race went on and he can only improve for the experience.

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What about young Brendan Powell Jnr?  He was in sparkling form at Plumpton yesterday as he completed a treble - two winners for Colin Tizzard and one for his father.  He is clearly a very promising young jockey.

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Fontwell are offering some enticing promotions at present.  If you go on Boxing Day you can get in for £22, get £10 worth of Tote betting vouchers, a free drink and admission to one of their January fixtures.  That looks like a good deal to me and would make a nice Christmas present - you can visit their website and book online.

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I see that Sandown Park have taken the unusual step of putting on three comedians after racing on 7th January (and no, they don't include the likes of Matt Chapman or Derek Thompson!).  Sean Meo, Paul Tomkinson and Steve Hughes have all appeared on Michael McIntyres comedy roadshow on BBC1 so it should certainly make for an entertaining evening.

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Wayne Rooney has ventured into racehorse ownership and has a two year old in training with Tom Dascombe.  They say that you end up looking like your animals (this is supposed to apply to cats and dogs) and if this happens to Wayne it should be a great improvement!...only joking Wayne!

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There is a real pressure match on tonight as Blackburn play Bolton.  Both managers must be on edge, but I will side with Blackburn to make their home advantage count.