Kie Fourth At Salisbury

David had just the one runner yesterday as Kie ran in the 1m6f handicap on the flat at Salisbury.  I thought that he ran okay to finish fourth, although considering his subsequent exploits over hurdles and fences I thought that a flat mark of 49 looked quite interesting.  It goes to show that it isn't very often that the handicapper 'let's one in' under either code, flat or jumps.  I would imagine that he will be reverting to obstacles when the jumping recommences after our summer break.  There are no runners from the stable this afternoon, although Race To Glory runs on the level tomorrow at Haydock and our former amateur rider Mikey Ennis will be in the saddle.

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat action coming from Pontefract, Brighton, Chepstow, Kempton and Newcastle.  It's not exactly a day to set the pulses racing, although there are a couple of tidy little races at Brighton this afternoon - the Godolphin team make a rare trip to the south coast and they look to have a strong hand.  I would be surprised if they didn't have a winner or two today.

It is obviously the week for making a comeback!  Hot on the heels of news that Michael Dickinson is to resurrect his training career in the USA, Mark Pitman has decided to do the same on these shores.  He last held a licence back in 2005 and even though it has only been a decade I think he will be quite surprised just how competitive the sport has become at the top in the interim.

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No more lounging around on the beach for me - I return home from sunny Cyprus today.  It is a lovely place to go, but it does get a bit too hot for my liking (you would have thought I would have realised that after all these years!).  Even so, I would imagine that we will be going back again next year.  At least I will have a bit of golf and cricket to look forward to on my return - Justin Spieth could become the new world number one golfer if he is successful in this weeks WGC Invitational from Ohio, while the fourth Ashes Test match gets underway tomorrow.

As I'm leaving tomorrow, how about a couple of fascinating facts about Cyprus?  Did you know that Cyprus is the sunniest place in the EU and enjoys 340 days of sunshine a year?  No wonder it gets so hot! Right, better go pack my bags...

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