Stewards Cup Day

Once again if you are a fan of National Hunt racing you are out of luck.  I know I bang on about it, but why on earth is there not a more balanced fixture list, especially of a weekend when people have the most opportunity to go racing.  If you are desperate for a jump racing fix, you will have to travel over to Ireland where it is the last day of their Galway fixture...I don't mind betting that there are a few sore heads around there by now!  Over on these shores there are six meetings taking place today, with the final day of Glorious Goodwood being the obvious highlight.  There are also meetings from Doncaster, Hamilton, Lingfield, Newmarket and Thirsk.

Once again if you are a fan of National Hunt racing you are out of luck.  I know I bang on about it, but why on earth is there not a more balanced fixture list, especially of a weekend when people have the most opportunity to go racing.  If you are desperate for a jump racing fix, you will have to travel over to Ireland where it is the last day of their Galway fixture...I don't mind betting that there are a few sore heads around there by now!  Over on these shores there are six meetings taking place today, with the final day of Glorious Goodwood being the obvious highlight.  There are also meetings from Doncaster, Hamilton, Lingfield, Newmarket and Thirsk.

It is every commentators nightmare at Goodwood today - the twenty-eight runner Stewards' Cup takes place at 3.50pm and is usually the proverbial cavalry charge.  The start is out of sight from the stands and the field often splits into several groups.  Whoever gets the call at the track today will certainly have earned their money!

It had been a quiet start to the week at Goodwood for usual standing dishes Hannon and Hughes but they finally got off the mark on Thursday with a double and were in the winners' enclosure again yesterday with Pether's Moon.  The pair team up again this afternoon to provide the final three favourites on the card, while champion jockey Hughes also has a few decent outside rides including Intrinsic in the Stewards' Cup.

The stable had one runner yesteday at Bangor, Street Entertainer who competed in the two mile handicap hurdle.  Unfortunately he finished a disappointing last of four on this occasion, having beaten the winner Ittirad earlier in the season.  He showed that he can be competitive from this sort of handicap mark last time out and perhaps he will benefit from stepping back up in trip?

Jump racing returns tomorrow at Market Rasen, although there will be no runners from the stable.  We then have an enforced nine day holiday from jump racing with no action until Newton Abbot on Wednesday week.  I guess David must have wanted to start his holidays early!

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Following on from England's great win in the Test match earlier in the week I will be looking forward to the cricket this afternoon as they change codes for the county Twenty 20 matches and it will be fascinating to see how outspoken former England star Kevin Pietersen will fare as Surrey take on Worcestershire for a place in the semi-finals of the competition at stake.

On the cricket front I see that both James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja were cleared of any wrong doing during the disciplinary hearing that has been lingering over the Test series.  It is certainly good news for England (and me as I have backed England for the series win!) that they will have Anderson available for the remainder of the series.

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