Three Old Faves

Day five of our summer sabbatical and we have five meetings taking place this afternoon with turf cards from Brighton, Haydock, Musselburgh, Newmarket and Thirsk.  The best of the action unsurprisingly comes tonight at Newmarket where they have a 1m4f (0-105) handicap at 6.38pm.  It's amazing how often the most valuable race of the day is so often poorly subscribed.  There are two non-runners in this race leaving just five to compete for the first prize of almost £14,000.  I would imagine the sponsors will not be entirely happy with the turnout.  It's a trappy little race all the same, so let's hope they are at least rewarded with a close finish.

Breeders Cup winner Tarnawa made an impressive seasonal reappearance at Leopardstown yesterday, winning the Group 3 contest by an emphatic 6½ lengths.  Although entitled to win as she did on the best of her form, it was an encouraging effort nonetheless on her first start since last November.  What a price she was too...she was 2/13 in the morning and drifted to 8/13 before returning at an SP of 1/2.

As I am sure you know, we are very proud of our record of finding good homes for our horses once their racing careers are over and we had a lovely email yesterday from a lady who has three of our former racers; Iorana, Yourman and Noble Sham.  Iorana, now a 25 year old, was formerly owned by Frank & Alison Farrant.  He is no longer ridden but is a happy, pampered pet, whilst the former David Johnson pair, Yourman (20 years old) and Noble Sham (21) are still ridden.  Yourman competes in dressage and won a showing class, whilst Noble Sham is a real gent and best friend to the owner's 13 year old daughter who rides him regularly.  We love to hear how our retired racers are getting on and as you can see from the pictures, these three are doing tremendously well.

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Team GB continue to perform well at the Olympics and there has already been a medal in the ladies hockey and a guaranteed gold or silver in the boxing.  With strong chances in the velodrome and in the track and field later today there could be more to come yet.

Jack Grealish's move to Manchester City for £100 million was confirmed this morning, making him the most valuable British transfer in history, although that could yet be broken if City can get Harry Kane.  Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Lionel Messi will be leaving Barcelona after an astonishing 21 years.  Paris St Germain look to be favourites to secure his services as one of the only teams that would be able to afford.

After a disappointing first day of England's match against India, there was a glimmer of hope yesterday with a great spell of bowling from Jimmy Anderson.  India were reduced to 125-4 at the end of play, having been going along nicely on 97-0.  The tourists still look to be in a strong position, so England will be hoping to start fast this morning.

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A young solicitor was involved in a terrible car smash.  The entire side of his BMW was ripped away, along with his arm.  When a police traffic officer arrived on the scene, the solicitor was in a state of shock.  "My car! My car!" he groaned.
The patrolman weighed up the extent of the injuries and said, "Sir, I think you should be more concerned about your arm than your car."
The solicitor looked down in horror at where his arm used to be and screamed, "My Rolex! My Rolex!"