Franklin Fantastic!

It was a good day for the yard yesterday afternoon as Franklin Roosevelt struck in the staying handicap hurdle under a positive front-running ride from Tom Scudamore, who in turn went on to complete a treble on the day.  David did well to find a good opportunity for Franklin Roosevelt here as he was running from a hurdle mark of 109 which was the same as his last winning mark over the larger obstacles.  Faced with a similar opportunity it would not be difficult to see him follow-up.  Of our other runners, it may well be that the ground was on the fast side for Vif Argent's liking, while Bathwick Man was a little disappointing on his seasonal reappearance.  It wasn't such a good day for champion jockey A P McCoy who is still one short of Martin's total of 4191 - Martin must have put the voodoo on him yesterday when he went to the races to see him!

If you like your jump racing I'm afraid you are out of luck for another day.  There are four race meetings taking place this afternoon, all of them on the flat at Bath, Thirsk, Yarmouth and Beverley.  Meanwhile there is a mixed flat and jumps card taking place in Killarney, Ireland this evening and yes, you guessed it...with €102,000 up for grabs, that is twice as much prize money as any of the meetings on the domestic front!

Great Leighs is to re-opened under the name Chelmsford City and will have twelve fixtures for the 2015 season.  They hope to eventually have 60-80 meetings per season - they should be okay as there isn't a track within close proximity to Chelmsford so the BHA cannot get them clashing with any other meetings.  I used to live in Danbury which is not far from the track and I reckon the track will be well supported when it finally reopens...I certainly hope so!

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I see that some bookmaking firms are laying 1/4 odds the first seven places in the Open golf, while Betfred are offering each-way prices about the first home.  I will be having a little interest on Casey at 55/1, Westward at 60/1 and Jaidee at 125/1.  Justin Rose is the man in form and should go well once again, while Rory McIlroy is too short in the betting for my liking.

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I do enjoy the publicity shots that these boxers pull nowadays.  You will notice that there are always massive great security guards to step in between the fighters so they do not hurt themselve.  Personally I would just like to see the boxers get on with it...the latest one was beween Tyson Fury and Derek Chisora.

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