Baaeed Sidesteps Arc

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon, but if you are a fan of the jumps you are out of luck.  There are flat fixtures from Ayr, Yarmouth and Pontefract, as well as all-weather action from Newcastle and Chelmsford City.  Unsurprisingly, there are no runners from the Pond House team today, although we will be back tomorrow with four runners at Newton Abbot.

There is plenty of entertainment for terrestrial viewers tonight as the Racing League continues at Newcastle.  Good prize money means that there are competitive fields of at least eleven runners for every race.  ITV4 will be covering every race, with the first off at 5.45pm.

I see there has been much analysis in the media about the decision to sidestep the Arc with Baaeed and instead go the Frankel route and run his final race in the Champion Stakes at Ascot.  Personally, I think it's the right call for the horse.  Of course, it would have been fascinating to see how he fared in the Arc, but it's a race that good horses regularly get beaten in and it certainly did nothing to detract from Frankel's legacy, the fact that he never ran in it.  Apart from going into unknown territory over a new trip, the last three renewals have been run on very soft or heavy ground and he will not have faced anything like that either.  It's a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

Back at Pond House, preparations continue apace for the National Racehorse Week stable visit this weekend.  We are expecting in excess of 150 visitors through the doors to see the hard work and devotion that goes into getting the racehorses to the track.

*****

Manchester City came from a goal behind to beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 at home in their Champions League match last night to stay top of their group.  Chelsea and Celtic both drew, but Rangers tough start to this stage of the competition continued as they were beaten 3-0 by Napoli.

Manchester United play tonight as they are in Europa League action, travelling to Sheriff Tiraspol.