Happy Birthday Scu

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards from Salisbury, Yarmouth and Lingfield as well as a jumps fixture from Southwell.  The next runners from Pond House will come tomorrow when Work runs on the level at Kempton, while declarations are made this morning for tomorrow's jump meeting at Worcester where the stable has a few entries.

It's amazing what a pair of blinkers can do.  I was watching the racing from Brighton yesterday and there was something of a shock as About Glory, who had been well beaten in his four previous starts to date, popped up at 16/1.  He scored with plenty in hand and I think if he were mine I would be looking to run the three year old again quickly under a penalty.  He is rated 52 now but I bet he won't be after you know who has his say.

It is former stable jockey and eight times champion, Peter Scudamore's 59th birthday today.  I wonder who Scu (pictured right) will get to buy him a drink?! Only joking Scu, we hope you have a fantastic day.

I bet there are a few tired racegoers following yesterday's Brighton meeting.  The lift had broken down before racing started and people had to use the stairs.  You would have thought that someone would have tried it before racing.  Still, the money they saved on prize money should be used to fix the lift!

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There is another international football match tonight although this time it is only a friendly.  England take on France on ITV at 8pm and having done my money on England against the Scots last week, I will be siding with the French tonight at 19/20.  England manager Gareth Southgate says that he is going to rest goalkeeper Joe hart in Paris tonight and both understudies Tom Heaton and Jack Butland will get a game.  That can only be a positive thing for England as Hart was awful last week.

The US Open Golf will be staged on the longest ever major course when it takes place at Erin Hills.  It is 7,741 yards long and will suit the big hitters such as Dustin Johnson.  The world number one is also the defending champion - he is 8/1 and I will be having a little wager on him, Stenson at 33/1 and Noren at 66/1 to give me some interest.  The par 5 18th hole could be 675 yards long and not too many people will be hitting that in two...sooner or later they are going to have to do something to the golf balls to stop them from going so far.

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Has anybody ever wondered who does the pollen count?  It has to be a hard job, especially if you have hay fever!  Keep smiling...