2 At Ffos Las

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards from Royal Ascot, Chelmsford City, Ripon and Lingfield, while over the sticks there is a jumps card from Ffos Las.  David has two runners at Ffos Las; Iniciar and Delface.  Iniciar steps up to three miles for the first time in the handicap hurdle at 8.15pm.  He was fifth at this track last time but is only 1lb lower so the handicapper obviously thinks that he will improve!  Let's hope the longer trip offers some assistance.  Daryl Jacob is in the saddle.  Our other runner, Delface contests the 2m handicap hurdle at 9.15pm.  The five year old is a course and distance winner, although both of his wins have come with plenty of cut in the ground.  If he handles it okay, he looks to have a shout under Tom Scudamore.

The big fixture of the day of course is at Royal Ascot where it is Ladies Day (or to us purists, Gold Cup day).  I am sure there will be plenty of pundits going through all the latest fashion designs.  That will be something to look forward to...do I sound sarcastic?!

Cracksman was turned over at odds of 2/5 yesterday and trainer John Gosden said that his mind was not on racing, but on something else instead.  I wonder if that string of fillies had anything to do with it?  Just think, you could geld him and I'm sure he would make a cracking hurdler.

The order of the day is apparently Order Of St George to regain his Gold Cup crown.  I know he won the race in 2016, but he looked like he was beaten by a stronger stayer in Big Orange last year and I wonder if anything will try to draw the sting from him in a similar manner?  There are a few in here that would make nice staying hurdlers too!

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I will be watching the football today and will be having a little wager on Denmark at evens, France at 8/13 and I might just take a chance on Croatia at 14/5.  Meanwhile, England boss Gareth Southgate has broken his shoulder while out running, so there will be no punching when England score a goal...you have to be positive!

It is the summer solstice today which means that it is the longest day.  I wouldn't want to be anywhere near Stonehenge today - you won't be able to move!

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Why was the Lord of the Rings author told off at school?  For Tolkien in class!  Get someone to explain it to you...

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