Eclipse Day

Despite the lack of any jump racing It looks like a busy day on the fixture list with six meetings all taking place on the level.  They come from Sandown, Leicester, Nottingham, Beverley, Carlisle and Haydock - the centrepiece is at Sandown with the Group One Coral Eclipse the feature race, with two Listed contests to back it up.  Let's just hope that the ground is not too quick for the runners.  The Fugue was very impressive last time out at Royal Ascot and the John Gosden team continues in good form so she looks to be the one to beat.  There are no runners from the stable today, although we will have a couple at Market Rasen tomorrow including the talented chaser His Excellency (pictured above).

I was impressed by the performance of Jailawi who was the good winner of the maiden stakes at Doncaster yesterday.  One of the horses he beat was rated 82 and I'm sure connections will be hoping that the handicapper does not use that one as the bench mark when assessing his rating.

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I was watching the football between Germany and France yesterday and I couldn't help but be impressed by the efficiency of the Germans who won the match 1-0.  I remember watching the Germans fielding a very young national squad a few years ago and now they are reaping the rewards of this policy.  Personally, I think they are the sort of model that we should be using - will we ever learn?!  Meanwhile Brazil managed to scrape through 2-1 against Colombia but they certainly didn't look like the flambuoyant Brazil of old.

The action today is between Argentina and Belgium and Holland and Costa Rica.  Argentina versus Belgium kick off on ITV at 5pm and it should be a good match.  The Argentinians are the 6/5 favourites to win in 90 minutes or 8/15 to get through to the next round.  Holland are 4/7 shots to dispatch of the Costa Ricans and they looks like a safe bet to me.

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I see that the Tour de France starts today in Leeds.  The Tour is 2,272 miles long and takes them through Britain, France, Belgium and Spain so quite why it is called the Tour de France is beyond me!  Maybe it should be called the Tour de Europe and any other country that will have us?!  Let's hope that Chris Froome can give Britain a winner this summer.

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It is the Wimbledon Ladies' Final this afternoon as Eugenie Bouchard takes on Petra Kvitova.  I am told that 8/11 chance Kvitova will win (although I am certain that Bouchard would win best turned out!) and she could be the first leg of a tasty double with 4/7 chance Novak Djokvic in the Mens' final.

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