Dry Spell Continues

Day five of our summer sabbatical and there are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards from Brighton, Musselburgh, Thirsk, Haydock and Newmarket.  The dry spell continues in the south and it is once again reflected in the ground with both Brighton and Newmarket offering good/firm ground.  Meanwhile, further up, Thirsk and Haydock are currently good/soft.  Of course, this has a knock-on effect to runners as well, with the Newmarket card hosting just one race with a double figure field, whilst the remainder are all between three and six runners.

No such problems over in Ireland where there is an abundance of runners with a jumps card from Wexford and a flat fixture from Tipperary.  In fact, there are trainers hoping for non-runners as there are reserves in five of the races at Wexford...perhaps we should be taking more notice of what the Irish are doing?

I see the BHA has upheld their decision to maintain the ban on foreign horses in low grade handicaps.  I'm still not sure that is the best course of action and don't see why they can't be allowed to race if they have contested a number of qualifying races over here that would make them eligible for a handicap mark much as they do in France.  It seems like we have lessons to learn from overseas.

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There was more joy for England yesterday at the Commonwealth Games with two golds in the diving courtesy of Jack Laugher and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix.  The latter was competing in her first games at the age of just 17 and showed composure in abundance as she led for most of the competition.  She was watched by her father, Fred, who is well known for appearing in the television show First Dates and the road trip series with Gordon Ramsey and Gino d'Acampo.

The action continues today with athletics, diving, lawn bowls, rhythmic gymnastics and wrestling and no, it's not like the old days with Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks!

The Premier League gets underway tonight with Crystal Palace hosting Arsenal.  The visiting Gunners will be worthy favourites, although they looked terrible during the early part of last season.  Could lightning strike twice?

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I only know 25 letters of the alphabet...I don't know y.