Entertainer At Perth

There is a busy day of racing ahead with no less than five meetings taking place - three on the flat from York, Salisbury and Newmarket and a couple of jumps fixtures from Perth and Fontwell.  Tom Scudamore makes the long trip north to ride Street Entertainer (pictured above) for the stable at Perth.  Our runner finished a good third last time out at Ayr and competes from the same mark of 122 so he looks to have solid claims once again.  The imponderable is the ground which is officially described as soft - he has only ever won on good ground, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on.

Tom also has a decent outside ride in Wind Of Hope for Lucinda Russell in the opener, while title leader Richard Johnson has four rides booked for Irish trainer Gordon Elliott - all four of them are forecast favourite in the Racing Post.

The big race of the day takes place at 3.15pma and is the Dante Stakes from York.  Historically it has proved to be one of the most informative Derby trials on the calendar, throwing up Epsom winners such as Authorized, Motivator, North Light, Benny The Dip, Erhaab, Reference Point and Shahrastani.  Today's renewal looks well up to scratch with the top four in the market seperated by little over a point.  I would be surprised if there were not a few movers in the market after today.  With cricket in the headlines, perhaps Jack Hobbs would be the most topical winner?!

Not satisfied with winning all of the races at Cheltenham and Punchestown, Willie Mullins now sends On His Own for a tilt at the £850,000 Grand Steeplechase de Paris this weekend at Auteuil.  I'm not sure the French will take as kindly to him winning the premier prize!  David has two runners in France this weekend - Ballynagour runs in the Prix la Barka (the French Champion Hurdle Trial) on Saturday, while Katkeau runs in a Listed hurdle on Sunday - the box left last night to get them there in good time.

*****

I find it hard to believe that American sprinter Justin Gatlin will ever run again.  The athlete was banned for four years after being found guilty of doping offences for a second time in 2006.  He was the last man to beat Ussain Bolt and now you probably know why!  What sort of example is it setting to let him race again?  As far as I am concerned it just shows that the authorities are too lenient and you can have a clean slate after being found guilty of cheating.  Having said that Gatlin is just one of three drugs cheats (that we know of!) in the eight runner field in Doha...I would rule with an iron fist and prevent them from ever competing again.

*****

There is some good football to look forward to tonight with playoff action between Wycombe and Plymouth.  Wycombe have a 3-2 lead after the first leg of their match and are 1/5 to qualify, although you can back them at 13/10 to win tonight's return leg.  The other match is between Southend and Stevenage and it is very tight after the first leg ended in a draw.  Both matches are on Sky tonight at 7.45pm.

Tweet