Chris Cook will be blogging live from Bangor from around midday. In the meantime, click here for the latest news from around the country.
Ron Cox's tips of the day
Tony McCoy's chances of securing his 3,000th jumps winner at Bangor today were dashed after Jonjo O'Neill withdrew all of his horses at the track and Picture In The Sky's owners decided they wanted regular rider Warren Marston on board and not the champion jockey. McCoy was set to have three rides for O'Neill but the trainer was forced to pull the plug on all of his runners due to travel problems.
Today's jumps meeting at Kempton has been cancelled, but they will try to race tomorrow as both Warwick and Newbury on Saturday have been lost. They join the prestigious Sunday card at Leopardstown, which was called off this morning. Exeter on Sunday has also been abandoned.
Tonight's Wolverhampton card got the go-ahead after a mid-morning inspection. The otheral-weather fixture at Southwell goes ahead today, along with Fontwell where the ground will be extremely testing.
Mudhish (1.20) is interesting in the opener at Southwell. He was not in great form when last seen on the racecourse, but trainer Clive Brittain has been going along nicely with his few all-weather runners and he has taken the trouble to book Neil Callan.
Tipping competition, final day
This has probably been the hardest week so far in our tipping competition, with just three winners yesterday. Slackdad38 had an 8-1 shot, while Hotspur61 took the lead with a 12-1 success, also found by Blitzwing, whom we criminally failed to mention in our final dispatch. Blitzwing is taking Mrs Blitzwing out for her birthday today, apparently, and has asked to be given number one in each of our races.
Those races are: 2.15 Bangor; 3.30 Southwell; 3.55 Bangor.
Our champion will be the tipster who ends on the best profit to imagined stakes of £1 per tip in these races. New entrants are welcome today, but they must start on -9. This week's champion wins a copy of Graham Sharpe's "1001 Great Gambling Tips". Good luck!
Standings after day three
Hotspur61 +17.75
Moscow08 +10.50
Blitzwing +9.50
Rivercity +5.50
slackdad38 +5.50
goofs +0
Moremoneythantalent +0
15244 -0.25
johne5knuckle -0.25
StarvnMarvn -3.50
pajocan -3.50
WalkerTrader -3.50
DrKelso -3.50
TheVic -4
Harrytheactor -5.75
lasramblas -5.75
mike65ie -9
millreef -9
sangfroid -9
xwireman -9
keepitdusty -9
Ireland06 -9
johnnysixpence -9
Viejo -9
km68 -9
JDK1 -9
Bertie47 -9
TheSheikh -9
suckzinclee -9
RickyVillasBeard -9
squareone -9
23skidoo -9
BenH36 -9
vardini -9
donlewis -9
1.25pm Chris Cook live at Bangor
Well, I've made it here, but many others haven't, including most horses based in the Cotswold area, where deep snow was again an issue this morning. Jonjo O'Neill has withdrawn all of his and I believe the only runner who's made it here from that neck of the woods is Picture In The Sky in the 3.20, trained by Martin Keighley.
This, of course, was the one horse Tony McCoy had left to ride here after his three other mounts became non-runners. Incredibly, the owners have decided to jock him off in favour of Warren Marston, who was supposed to be riding at Kempton, now abandoned. "We're probably the only owners who'd jock off McCoy," they told me just now, jokingly. Ho ho ho. But you might have trouble booking him next time, lads.
Anyway, they seem confident and determined. The horse had to be walked two miles to the main road before it could be loaded into the horsebox, apparently. He's about 6-4 on Betfair, but would have been a lot bigger if Massasoit had turned up.
There are a total of 23 non-runners and probably more to come, so check 'em before you pick 'em.
1.45pm High drama at Fontwell
Only four runners in the first at Fontwell but no shortage of incident as Shoreacres seemed to have the race won before stepping onto the second-last flight and turning over. More than £25,000 had been matched on Betfair at 1-25 or shorter by that point, so someone's had a bad day already.
Highest Esteem held on but Rockandahardplace would surely have got up under a more vigorous ride. His jockey, Lee Horner, was having his first ride in public and looked ineffective through the closing stages, despite which his mount closed to within a neck at the line. I'd recommend caution if Horner is jocked up on one you fancy, until he's shown he's better than this.
2.35pm Naughty By Nature slogs home at 11-8
A strong ride from Richard Johnson to get the idling favourite home ahead of Royal Flynn. I'd say that the original jockey, Nick Scholfield, may not have done quite so well, but that's just me. Scholfield apparently found the roads impassable from his base at Paul Nicholls' yard near Shepton Mallet.
That's a winner in the competition for goofs, DrKelso, Harrytheactor, sangfroid, Vardini, StarvnMarvn, Bertie47 and, crucially, our leader Hotspur61. Two more races to go.
2.45pm Grand National winners
Following sangfroid's enquiry yesterday, I've had a quick chat with Ron on the subject of his successes in recent Grand Nationals. The two winners that Ron immediately recalled tipping were Papillon (33-1 on the morning of the 2000 race) and Numbersixvalverde three years ago.
I'm with Harrytheactor - it's been a long drought for me since Seagram came home in front, though I've had a handful of places since. My best result was when deciding at the last moment not to lay Hedgehunter win and place. That would have been a very long ten minutes . . .
3.45pm Blast from the past at Southwell
The Tatling (7-1) came home in front at Southwell. He's 12 now and it's five years since he won the King's Stand but the fire still burns, it seems. Shame on all of you who failed to keep the faith. Moremoneythantalent and Bertie47 had him - Moremoney is in contention, while Bertie47 has at least broken into profit. One race to go.
Here at Bangor, Picture In The Sky ran in snatches and was beaten by Fabalu. There's not much reason to imagine that McCoy would have done better than Marston and I would imagine the champion is secretly pleased he got an afternoon at home in front of the fire. Or, more likely, in a JCB clearing the way for the yard he's building on his land near Lambourn. Some guys just aren't made for home comforts.
4.10pm Fair Question hacks up at 6-1
That brings up a double here for Donald McCain and Jason Maguire. More importantly, it was a winner for all these tipsters: viejo, JDK1, keepitdusty, Moscow08, RickyVillasBeard, StarvnMarvn and WalkerTrader.
But it was too little, too late for Moscow08, who couldn't quite close the gap on Hotspur61, our champion tipster of the week. Congratulations! Look out for an email from our website moderators on Monday.
We'll have a new tipping competition from Monday, when hopefully we'll have more action for you than we did last Monday (none). We hope to see you then.
More immediately, Talking Horses will be live tomorrow, when Denman makes his long-awaited racecourse reappearance at Kempton (weather permitting). Is he still as good after the heart problem? Can we really expect such a big, nine-year-old chaser to be ready after 11 months off? Tune in tomorrow . . .
4.45pm Venetia Williams quite literally on fire
Victory for Limerick Boy in the hunter chase gives the trainer her third winner on this card and she's had another at Fontwell, too. She had a double at Taunton yesterday. Whatever her horses are eating, I'd like some! (no I wouldn't)
Gary Moore is also going well, with a hat-trick at Fontwell.
Click here for all the day's racecards, form, stats and results.
Click here for today's latest odds.
And post your tips or racing-related comments below.
