A Little Pre-Occupied Today

Good morning everybody

As the title of this posting suggests, I have other things on my mind today. The Dingles are a-visiting the Hawthorns at lunchtime. There is no love lost between the Albion and the Wolves and today, being Roy Hodgson's first game in charge of the Baggies, gives extra significance. Also with both clubs hovering close to the bottom of the League it could be classed as a 6 if not 12 pointer.

COME ON YOU BAGGIES!!

Aa for horses, we had an 11/8 winner, 2 unplaced and 2 non-runners yesterday so not particularly anything to write home about. Today brings jumping at Sedgefied, Market Rasen and Naas, along with AW flat at Kempton. A couple to watch are listed below:-

LESANDA Sedgefield 3.10 (place or e/w)

SNOWY PEAK Kempton 4.25

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I will be back (all being well) tomorrow.

Tatty

Washout North of the Border

Good day my old buds

Well yesterday was a bit of an anti-climax was it not? I return to the land of the tipping, only to find its been a bit soggy up in Western Scotland and Ayr had bitten the slurry. Shame that, Ayr is one of my fave courses; I love the Ayr Gold Cup meeting and the locals are so friendly. I must go up again someday. Matter of interest, has anyone any idea who trains at the Cree Lodge stables across the road from the course now? I remember when Linda Perratt was there and I used to follow her gelding Ho Leng. He won me a few quid at Newmarket in (I believe it was) the Bunbury Cup one year.

In case of abandonments and non-runners etc, please follow my Twitter page where I will endeavour to update any of my blogs.

http://twitter.com/uncletatty

Back on to my pet subject of the moment, the dismissal of Robbie di Matteo from the Hawthorns. I wrote an email to the club today which I reproduce in full here:

I am totally at a loss over the relieving of Roberto di Matteo from his duties as Head Coach. The Chairman says it is due to the bad run of losses that has taken place, but why no strengthening of the squad in the January window, bar Carlos Vela?

1) Surely the idea of a Technical Director overseeing the bringing in of players means that Ashworth should go as well? He has surely failed in his remit to strengthen the squad. A coach is only as good as the players he has at his disposal.

2) Who are we going to find to do a better job than di Matteo? Unless the incumbant Manager has total control of all aspects, it will never work and we will be down in the Championship again before we know it.

3) Where is the logic in removing a Coach one week after the transfer window has closed? Any replacement will not have the opportunity to get in any players he requires to help keep us up (maybe that is what the board want - it won't cost them any more money will it?).

After almost 50 years of being an Albion fan, all I can say is that I am ashamed of the club for this totally ridiculous decision. I wish Robbie well and thank him for the excellent job he has done. Peace and his cronies have made one almighty big mistake with this and I for one wouldn't be sorry to see the back of them!

Will I receive a reply? Well I won't be holding my breath..... 

On to those 4 legged, annoying things that eat hay and nay a lot (and don't seem to run very fast on occasions). Southwell (AW), Market Rasen and Sedgefield are the courses of action for today, but to err on the side of caution, I will make both selections from the all-weather flat meeting at sultry Southwell.

Last week I went against EILEAN MOR who runs in the 3.15 maiden, but today I quite fancy Bryan Smart's gelding to get his head in front. I am not convinced the extra furlong was to his liking and a return to 6 should help.

An hour later at 4.15 ACE MASTER is one going up in distance  from 6 and 7 furlongs to a mile. He has been running ok at the shorter trips, but really does stand out to me in this field and I fancy him to prevail.

  EILEAN MOR Southwell 3.15 3rd @ 11/4

 ACE MASTER Southwell 4.15 3rd @ 3/1

Good night and good luck. Remember, updates if required on Twitter.

Tatty

The Sun Shines on the Righteous and at Southwell.

Morning all, how ya didlin'?

A pretty cruddy day on the nags yesterday, I'm sure you will agree. KNOCKAVILLA managed 2nd, but was well back and in a 4 horse race even the each way odds don't come into play. SARAH'S ART was poor. Broke badly, kept at the back and was well out of it. At The Races have an award for jockey of the week - can't imagine Adam Kirby will be troubling the judges on this showing somehow.

So now on to today. Jumping at Sedgefield, Leicester and Navan. All- weather flat at sunny Southwell. The best quality race over the sticks is the 2 mile novice chase at Leicester, but with only 4 runners again. After getting my fingers burnt in the similar contest yesterday at Wetherby, I am going to leave it well alone. Sedgefield and Navan do not interest me so its off to the sunshine for today's guesswork.

The 2.50 at Southwell is a decent looking, class 3 contest with one or two in with a shout. Arganil drops back in class and has a liking for Southwell, but he has not been in the best of form so warrants watching for now. Luscivious is out of form and Dandy Nicholls', Sir Geoffrey will fly out of the stalls, but is up against a better class of animal here. Feelin' Foxy got knocked off into 2nd last time after 2 previous wins. I just think that a mark of 85 is more than enough for now.Divertimenti has been away from the all-weather for a good while and has never really looked the part at Southwell anyway. That leaves WAVEBAND, who has always been a bit of a cantankerous madam, but has shown signs of behaving on her first 2 runs for her new stable. I think this will be third time lucky and I take her to just get this.

I like a couple of others at Southwell.  At 1.50 STEED seemed a different horse last time when fitted with cheekpieces. He goes up 4lbs for that win, but can follow up. In the Maiden at 3.50 Eilean Mor seems somewhat exposed, but new stable and running on the Fibresand may just be the making of him. My vote goes to CHRISTMAS ARIA who ran well at Lingfield a week ago. If transferring that form to the softer form of sand, he won't be far away.

STEED Southwell 1.50 1st @ 15/8

WAVEBAND Southwell 2.50 2nd @ 6/4

CHRISTMAS ARIA Southwell 3.50 1st @ 11/10

I'm going to leave it there for this posting. Good luck with your punting and I will write more soon.

Tatty