Well Done Laura!

This afternoon there are four meetings, all on the flat at Goodwood, Leicester, Musselburgh and Lingfield as well as a great card on the beach at Laytown in Ireland.  It's the 145th year of this unique meeting and I see there is a horse with a topical name running called Surfs Up...perhaps there should be another one called Tides Out?!  Just think if you were holidaying in the area you could con the wife and kids into a 'day at the beach'!  The ground is officially being described as standard and there is some very good prize money on offer - even the claimer is worth nearly £5,000!

This afternoon there are four meetings, all on the flat at Goodwood, Leicester, Musselburgh and Lingfield as well as a great card on the beach at Laytown in Ireland.  It's the 145th year of this unique meeting and I see there is a horse with a topical name running called Surfs Up...perhaps there should be another one called Tides Out?!  Just think if you were holidaying in the area you could con the wife and kids into a 'day at the beach'!  The ground is officially being described as standard and there is some very good prize money on offer - even the claimer is worth nearly £5,000!

There is a peculiar handicap at Bath tomorrow where all four of the runners have the same mark of 69 so they all have the same weight.  I wonder what price a four-way dead heat?

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Congratulations to Laura Clifford-Ward, (granddaughter of our stable sponsors Wayne and Sarah) for competing in her first show at the weekend aboard Bathwick Bear.  The pair of them finished a very creditable runner-up in their class, while Wayne's dog Benji also participated.  He too finished runner-up and you can see him pictured below enjoying a well-earned rest after his exertions!

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There has been some ridiculous money being forked out for footballers recently, but you can also turn a decent profit from horses too on occasion.  One such instance is Lethal Force who was bought for just £8,000 and will be sold to stand at Cheveley Park Stud at the end of the season for £3.5million - at least Cheveley won't have to pay him £300,000 per week in wages, so they look to have secured a bargain.  What is more, Lethal Force will also score more than Gareth Bale...think about it!

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I see that Sunderland manager Paulo di Caneo has signed another couple of Italians, meaning he has now signed 14 new players this season.  I guess he needs to hire Italians so they can understand his rants and raves, or maybe he is signing a reserve team as well?!

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I always enjoy watching Strictly Come Dancing and I see that the bookies make former golfer Tony Jacklin a 50/1 chance for victory.  As far as I can tell, he looks like he should be a 1000/1 chance!  Rugby star Ben Cohen is a 10/1 chance while my fancy (in more ways than one!) Sophie Ellis-Bextor is a 5/1 chance - let's hope it's not 'murder on the dance floor!'  Really I ought to consult my wife as she always seems to pick the winner of these reality shows.