Something To Savour!

Racing fans are in for a treat today with five meetings taking place - there are three meetings over the sticks at Ascot, Haydock and Huntingdon as well as two flat cards on the all-weather at Lingfield and Wolverhampton.  The Ascot and Haydock meetings look truly outstanding with the 3.00pm race, the Betfair Chase looking worthy of a Gold Cup field.  Gold Cup winners Long Run and Bobs Worth are joined by Siviniaco Conti, Tidal Bay and Cue Card as well as the stable's own Dynaste in what looks like a classic in the making.  Some of the runners are having their first runs of the season so some improvement could be expected - Dynaste takes on the big boys for the first time today and I am really looking forward to seeing how it all pans out.

Apparently Barry Geraghty took a nasty fall during schooling yesterday and took another crasher at the races.  I'm sure he wouldn't miss the ride on Bobs Worth for anything, but it will be interesting to see how effective he is as he was seen hobbling from the track yesterday.

The other runners from Pond House today are Ace High, Home Run, Gevrey Chambertin (who takes in the Fixed Brush hurdle that the stable has won in recent years with Grands Crus and Dynaste) and Problema Tic at Haydock, while Volt Face is our sole representative at Ascot - he runs in the bumper and will be partnered by Conor O'Farrell.

In the 2.05pm race at Ascot there is £50,000 in prize money up for grabs, yet only three horses line up for it!  All the competitors have to do is compete to earn a nice few quid...Ascot really must be disappointed by the turnout.

Of yesterday's runners I thought that bumper horse Thomas Junior performed creditably in the closing race at Ffos Las, finishing a close third.  He still looked green on this second start and also appeared to be getting stuck in the ground but still kept on in determined fashion and appears a stayer in the making.  There certainly look to be plenty of races to be won with him.

*****

I was fascinated to see the press conference between George Groves and Carl Froch ahead of their upcoming fight.  It really does look like there is some genuine animosity between the pair.  Sometimes these press calls are set up to sell tickets, but this looks like the real thing to me.  Froch has fought at a different level to Groves and I would expect him to take care of business once the bell rings.