Saturday's Action

There are a further six meetings taking place this afternoon with five flat fixtures from Goodwood, Newmarket, Beverley, Windsor and Redcar as well as a National Hunt card from Cartmel.  So that is twelve meetings over the last couple of days and only one of them over the sticks...I don't think I need to elaborate!  Redcar get the wooden spoon today with just £30,000 on offer which I think is extremely poor for a Saturday fixture.  I still firmly believe that owners and trainers should boycott these tracks where prize money is so poor - as long as the horses keep getting entered, the tracks will continue to take the mickey.  Tom Scudamore makes the long journey to Cartmel for a couple of rides for James Moffatt, the best of which looks to be Fantasy King, let's hope he can ride a winner otherwise it is going to be a long drive home for him!

Following his Juddmonte International success with Arabian Queen, trainer David Elsworth was in his usual enigmatic form when he said of disappointing Derby and Eclipse winner Golden Horn, "Golden Horn is a bloody good horses, he must be to have finished second to us!"

American Triple Crown hero American Pharoah is the big draw tonight at Saratoga as he puts his unbeaten record on the line at 10.46pm.  The race is covered by Attheraces and despite the one-sided nature of the contest (he is a 1/5 shot) it is bound to draw a big crowd.  He did his final piece of track work yesterday and 15,000 people turned out to see him gallop - a real American superstar.

I'm not sure whether to have a crack at the lottery tonight or to have a bet in the 2.35pm race at Goodwood today.  It is a 20 runner 7 furlong handicap and the bookies go 8/1 the field.  Oh, and by the way, did I mention that the ground is soft?!

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Simon Crockett reached the half century yesterday and has a big party tonight to celebrate - if you are on your way down to Devon today on the M5 .  Simon (pictured right, in traditional pose) drinks Bud for England and I will never know how his wife Susie puts up with him!    Anyway, many happy returns Simon...

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I will be having a little multiple on some shorties in the football today.  For what it is worth I like the look of Liverpool at 2/5, Manchester City at 2/9, Spurs at Evens and Chelsea at 2/5.  The Spurs match is on Sky at 5.30pm so you know where I will be this evening!

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'Arrers legend Phil "The Power" Taylor has just won matches in Perth and Sydney, Australia and now heads off to Auckland to try to land a unique treble in the World Series of Darts.  It looks very much a case of have darts, will travel.

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Meanwhile, I see that snooker bosses are looking into a possible incident of match rigging between Martin O'Donnell and Thanawat Tirapongpalboon...I can't say I have ever heard of either of them, which is probably a good thing, the latter must be a commentator's nightmare!  Anyway, I'm sure the betting patterns will uncover if anything untoward has gone on.

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