Day 3 Of The Ebor Meeting

There are six meetings taking place this afternoon with flat fixtures from Carlisle, Newbury, York and Salisbury as well as all-weather action from Newcastle and Wolverhampton.  The pick of the action certainly comes from York, where it is day three of the Ebor meeting and their card features the Group 1 Nunthorpe over 5f as well as a pair of Group 2 races.  Sadly, Stradivarius is out of the Lonsdale Cup, which is a shame as he was previously unbeaten at the track in six starts.

The Nunthorpe at 3.35pm looks a wide-open race for a Group 1 with a fascinating age range - the three year old's get a couple of pounds from their elders, but the fly in the ointment could be The Platinum Queen who gets lumps of weight as the only two year old in the race.

Port O'Clock was a little unlucky not to finish in the staying handicap chase at Stratford yesterday afternoon, unseating at the last when hampered by a faller.  He would not have troubled the judge but deserved to complete, whilst over at Fontwell, Dindin shaped like a non-stayer over the longer trip in the 3m2f handicap chase.

Over at York, Alpinista ran out a good winner of the Yorkshire Oaks, going one place better than two years ago and securing a fourth successive win at the highest level, although this was her first on home soil.

There are no runners from the Pond House team today, but we will be back with four runners at Newton Abbot tomorrow, so come back then to find out more.

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England are up against it in the cricket after they were bowled out for 165 in their first innings.  South Africa finished the day on 289-7, a lead of 124 runs.  The home side will need to get through the tail-enders quickly this morning to give themselves a chance of getting a result.

Emma Raducanu's Cincinatti Open run came to an end yesterday as she was beaten in straight sets by seventh seed Jessica Pegula.  Even so, this was as good as she has looked since the US Open last year and will serve (pardon the pun) as a good prep for that tournament which gets underway in 10 days time.

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When does a dad joke cost £1000?  When it’s a granddad joke.