Pair Of Places

Our two runners at Newton Abbot yesterday both performed with credit with Oneonechop and Koi Dodville filling third and fourth positions respectively in the juvenile hurdle.  Oneonechop saw out his race much better than on debut, staying on well in the closing stages to be beaten only a length and he looks sure to pick up something similar based on this evidence.  Koi Dodville jumped much better on this occasion and stuck on well once headed to finish fourth, beaten just over four lengths.  He again came out best of these at the weights, but is finding life tougher under a double penalty.

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with a jumps card from Cartmel and flat cards from Ayr, Windsor and Beverley.  The best of the action on the level would appear to come from Ayr, where the one mile 0-105 handicap is the highlight of their card.  Roger Varian’s Tinker Toy drops down in class having found Group 3 company at Newmarket too hot last time and could be of interest from the foot of the weights.

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Lewis Hamilton was an extremely fortunate winner of the British Grand Prix having punted title rival Max Vertappen off on the opening lap yesterday afternoon.  Hamilton took an ambitious look down the inside of the Red Bull at a 160mph corner, catching his back wheel and sending him plunging into the tyre wall.  It had the look of a desperate move from Hamilton and Verstappen was lucky not to be seriously injured in the 51g crash.

The trouble is the stewards are ruining the sport by handing out penalties left, right and centre but without any consistency.  On Saturday George Russell was handed a 3 place grid penalty for a minor infringement which ruined his race in his lowly Williams, whilst Hamilton was handed only a 10 second penalty which is extremely lenient considering (with his rival out of the race) he had clearly the fastest car.  With Hamilton going on to win the race, he basically escaped scott-free and the punishment certainly didn’t fit the crime in this instance.

Collin Marikawa landed the British Open yesterday with a final round of 66 to beat Jordan Spieth.  Marikawa, just 24 years of age was winning his second Major at his eighth attempt…not a bad strike rate at all!

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I went to the doctor’s the other day and said to him, “Doctor, every morning when I get up and look in the mirror, I feel like throwing up.  What’s wrong with me?”
“I don’t know,” said the doctor, “but your eyesight is perfect!”