Bangor Bank Holiday Runners

It is a busy old Bank Holiday Monday as you would expect and there are eight meetings to look forward to with five on the flat at Epsom, Ripon, Newcastle, Warwick and Chepstow as well as three fixtures over the sticks at Cartmel, Bangor and Huntingdon.  The stable has two runners at Bangor - Purple 'N Gold (pictured) who has been running creditably on the level since his Uttoxeter hurdling debut success and Bathwick Man, who looks reasonably treated under conditional jockey Kieron Edgar if able to rediscover the best of his form.

It is amazing the damage a bit of rain can do to a meeting.  I am imagining that you would be disappointed if you were the director of York racecourse after rainfall turned the ground soft of Saturday leading to a raft of non-runners.  While the racing was still of a very high standard, the big handicap, the Ebor had no fewer than six non-runners on the day, leaving a field of just 14...not exactly the fiercely competitive handicap that it is famous for, especially considering there was over £150,000 in prize money on offer to the winner.  Even so, I was delighted to see the Cecil team continue in good form with the success of their progressive stayer Tiger Cliff.

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I was watching the football yesterday between Manchester City and Cardiff and was surprised to see the Welsh team rally to win 3-2 having trailed 2-1.  City (and England) goalkeeper Jo Hart looked terrible and I would be concerned by his form at present.  There were two goals that he should have saved and it certainly made the difference between winning and losing.  He needs to go away and regroup and try to keep his head (and shoulders!).

There is a great match to look forward to tonight as Manchester United and Chelsea clash in the Premiership.  It kicks off at 8.00pm and is covered by Sky Sports - I will definitely be watching as it will give our first real indication of just how real the threat from 'The Special One's' Chelsea is this season.

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It was fantastic that England managed to wrap-up a 3-0 Ashes series win over the Australians, although it was a bit of an unsatisfactory end to the match at the Oval.  The Aussies were clearly going all-out for a consolation victory, and having made an aggressive declaration it was disappointing that they started complaining about the light four overs from the finish when England looked pretty much assured of victory and a 4-0 drubbing of the visitors.  Still, it's nice to stick it up'em...it doesn't happen very often, so we have to make the most of it when we can!

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The Formula One circus returned from it's summer holiday yesterday in Belgium and the month off doesn't seem to have altered a thing.  Sebastian Vettel won without breaking a sweat and looks to be well on his way to his fourth consecutive world drivers' championship - amazing when you consider that he has only recently turned 26 years of age!  They might as well cut-out all the expense of the rest of the season and just give him the trophy now...some people said that Schumacher's seven titles would never be beaten, but if Vettel can make it four this term, I bet his fellow countryman will be sweating - who knows, he may even 'unretire' again!