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Captain's Blog - 21st February 2011

The cricket World Cup is up and running and early exchanges have seen impressive wins for India and Sri Lanka. The more I think about the tournament and the England team the less chance I think they have. They are devoid of confidence in this form of the game and they will miss the influential Eoin Morgan in their middle order. The recent tinkering with the batting order suggests that they are not a settled side. Essentially they put all their mental and physical effort into retaining the Ashes this winter and now are suffering mental let down which means that they will find it very hard to get themselves up for this tournament. I expect a fairly early exit once the knock out phase starts.

Mille Chief
© racing-images.co.uk

The Champion Hurdle picture was given some more detail on Saturday with the success of Mille Chief in the Kingwell Hurdle. He travelled strongly through the race and then had to battle hard to see off Celestial Halo. The chance of making the bare form is not good enough to win a Champion Hurdle but I did like the way he went through the race and on better ground he may have a much more potent turn of foot. He is clearly a horse with plenty of speed and as long as his stamina gauge does not empty up the hill at Cheltenham he has a chance of making the frame.

Saturday was also the day of the Grand National trial at Haydock which Silver by Nature won for the second year in a row. He is a grand stayer with a willing attitude, but his Grand National prospects surely depend on the ground being soft or worse. In essence he revels in the mud and the big race may well be run at the wrong time of year for him.

I have a few days off this week before returning to the studios on Wednesday for some jumping action from Ludlow. Things are beginning to hot up on your favourite racing channel now as we build towards the Cheltenham Festival. Excitement will be at fever pitch by the time we get to Champion Hurdle day of course and we are looking forward to bringing you the best possible coverage.

Time for me to bid you farewell for another day. Have a good one.

Today’s Selection

2:10 Carlisle - Senor Alco (each way 7/2 Paddy Power )