Dry Spell Continues

It is not surprising that David has kept plenty of his powder dry over the past few weeks.  October has often been dry in the past, but the month just gone was the driest since we have been recording rainfall (which goes back 15 years).  It has led to unseasonably fast ground and Taunton went as far as abandoning this Thursday's meeting last week as the ground was firm (hard in places).  Kempton Clerk of the course Barney Clifford corroborates this saying they have "put on 460mm of water since August 27th, that is a phenomenal amount".  I have never known it so dry where I live and the golf course where I play is also very hard, mind you it does mean my short drives go a lot further so it is not all bad!

Anyway, I digress...there are four meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Lingfield, Huntingdon and Sedgefield as well as an all-weather flat card from Newcastle.  Stable jockey Tom Scudamore heads to Lingfield where he has picked up four outside rides with at least a couple of them looking to have good chances.  Speaking of Tom Scu, I see that he is waxing lyrical in the Post today about Thistlecrack - I can't think why!  He could run this weekend at Cheltenham and while he was impressive the other day at Chepstow, more experience is required before I would consider him for a Cheltenham Gold Cup.

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The cricket test series between India and England begins tomorrow at 4am so it looks like it is going to be an early start for me!  England are being given very little chance by the bookmakers with India 1/6 to win the series and the visitors available to back at 12/1.  Are India really that much better than us?  Joe Root is a 3/1 chance to be top England run scorer in the first innings and that could be worth a look.  Meanwhile this will be Stuart Broad's 100th test and he says that to receive a cap with "100" under the Three Lions will be special - it is a great achievement to represent your country, but to do it 100 times is fantastic.

Captain Alistair Cook has said that this could be his last series as skipper.  He will break Michael Atherton's record of 54 test captaincies and has been a great leader.

Congratulations to Andy Murray, the new world number one tennis player.  Murray takes on Stan Wawrinka, Kel Nishikori and Marin Cilic in the round robin stage at the O2 in next week's Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

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If you were 12 when Red Red Wine was released then this year, UB40!  Have a nice day...

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