Four Flat Fixtures

This afternoon there are four flat cards to look forward to at Ayr, Newbury, Newcastle and Wolverhampton.  The question that comes to mind is how on earth have Newcastle managed to get away with staging an eight race card for only £29,000 in prize money?  Moreover, why are owners supporting the meeting?  They have fields of sixteen and seventeen runners even though the most valuable race of the day is worth less than £3,000 to the winner.  As far as I can tell, if the tracks think they can get away with putting on poor prize money, they will.

This afternoon there are four flat cards to look forward to at Ayr, Newbury, Newcastle and Wolverhampton.  The question that comes to mind is how on earth have Newcastle managed to get away with staging an eight race card for only £29,000 in prize money?  Moreover, why are owners supporting the meeting?  They have fields of sixteen and seventeen runners even though the most valuable race of the day is worth less than £3,000 to the winner.  As far as I can tell, if the tracks think they can get away with putting on poor prize money, they will.

The card at Ayr looks very competitive...the ground is officially soft yet they still have 27 runners in their 2.20pm race over five furlongs.  I wonder what the effect of the draw will have?  If it is soft all over then it should make a lot of difference, although I find it hard to believe that it will be the same across the width of the course.

Robbie Savage conducted the draw for tomorrow's Ayr Gold Cup - it seems to me that he is more famous now that he has packed up winding people up on the football pitch.  He was only ever an average footballer with long hair and is probably a better dancer than footballer...anyway, good on him.  I must confess though, I was amused when he proudly proclaimed that he had run the North Run in 1:58 without training, only to be shot down by northern trainer Jim Goldie who proclaimed his wife could beat that time!

I see that globe trotting jockey Darryll Holland will become the first British rider to compete in China on Saturday.  When I went to China in 1964 horse racing and gambling would have sent the little red book into orbit!  How times have changed.

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Above left: (l-r) Smiles For Miles and Barton Stacey, and right: (l-r) Obistar and Top Gamble

I have a couple more pictures to bring you from earlier in the week on the gallops.  This time we have former point-to-pointer Smiles For Miles who worked with another former pointer and hurdle winner Barton Stacey, while I also managed to get a nice shot of a young unraced three year old called Obistar as he worked upsides promising bumper and hurdle winner Top Gamble.

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It didn't take long for some of the Chelsea fans to turn on Jose Mourinho.  A banner at their last match said that Mata belongs on the field, not on the bench.  It's amazing how fans (myself included) always know better than the manager!

Surely it is time for Sepp Blatter to be shown the red card by FIFA?  He seems to have made so many mistakes over the years but somehow still manages to keep hold of his job.  How can you switch an event like the World Cup from summer to the winter?  Everyone knew it would be too hot in Qatar except for the crazy one!