Jumping Sabbatical

Today is the first of four days without any jump racing so consequently we have five flat cards to keep us entertained this afternoon.  The action comes from Catterick, Wolverhampton, Lingfield, Kempton and Bath.  There are seven race cards from Bath and Lingfield that offer just £29,000 in prize money across their entire fixtures - I wonder which operator owns those tracks?!

I see that Irish trainer Gordon Elliott is going to try to go through the card at Perth on Sunday.  They host a seven race card and Gordon is responsible for no fewer than 45 of the entries.  It sounds like a few more winners on the board for Richard Johnson.  No trainer has ever gone through the card - Martin has managed five winners and a second before, so it would be some achievement should he pull it off, especially with it being a seven race fixture.

There was a six furlong seller at Brighton - there was no bid for the winner Gypsy Rider although the fourth was claimed for £6,000.  Am I missing something or is Mr Conor Dore a good judge? - I guess we will wait and see!  Having said that, it was only last season that David claimed Houston Dynimo having finished down the field in a seller and he went on to finish placed in a couple of Listed races.

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The first Test in the Ashes series between England and Australia starts today at Cardiff and I am looking forward to it.  The trouble is that it is raining at present!  The Aussies are 19/20 to win and much as I hate to say it, that looks reasonable enough to me.  The Australians will certainly be a different kettle of fish to the Kiwis.  I wonder where that saying came from?!

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The men's singles matches at Wimbledon this afternoon do not really appeal as a betting medium.  Murray is 1/12, Djokovic 1/10 and Federer is 1/8 - even a treble on the three of them does not add up to much.

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Raheem Sterling has said that he does not want to go on pre-season tour with Liverpool and it is abundantly clear that he doesn't want to play for the Scousers any more.  They must sell him as soon as possible as he is worth too much money to play in the reserves.  I see that Blackpool football club can be bought for £16 million - for that sort of money I would want them to throw in the town as well!

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Apparently drivers were stuck in a 15 mile tailback on the M1 near Northampton yesterday after a lorry spilled 20 tons of chicken offal.  I bet there was a fowl smell!  Have a nice day...

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