International Flavour

There may be no jumps racing today and no stable runners but there is some great flat race action to look forward to in a number of different countries.  There are four flat meetings in Britain at Newmarket, Ascot, Redcar and Newcastle.  In Ireland they have a meeting under each code with the flat action coming from the Curragh and jumping at Gowran Park.  There is Group race action at Newmarket with the Sun Chariot Stakes at 2.40pm.  This is over One mile for fillies and mares and there are joint favourites at the head of the betting, with the Charlie Appleby trained Cinderella's Dream and the Wathnan Racing trained Fallen Angel both at 9/4.  I am a fan of the latter but it looks a good race and more than just a two horse race.

At Ascot, there are two Group 3 races and the first of these is the Cumberland Lodge Stakes over 1m4f 2.25pm.  Hamish is favourite for the William Haggas team in this small but select field.  The other Group 3 race is the Bengough Stakes over 6 furlongs at 3.00pm.  Prince of India is favourite for Marco Botti and Jamie Spencer but this looks a far more open affair and more difficult to try and pick the winner.

It is of course Arc weekend in Paris and there is a very good opening card at Longchamp this afternoon.  There is plenty of British and Irish representation in some top quality races and Oisin Murphy and Tom Marquand have plenty of rides.  There is then some good action the other side of the Atlantic this evening with can be followed on Sky Sports Racing Stateside.  Frankie Dettori rode a winner for Godolphin last weekend and this time rides for the Ballydoyle team.  He rides Diego Velazquez in the £1 million sponsored Coolmore race at Keeneland.  He is not the only horse represented from this side of the world in the contest with Andrew Balding trained Jonquil also in the line up.  Frankie also rides for Simon and Ed Crisford in a different race so it could be worth tuning in this evening.  Meanwhile, jockey Billy Loughnane who was in winning form at Southwell last night travels to Canada to ride Nation's Pride for Charlie Appleby in the Canadian International at 10.41pm.  

After quite a lot of rain overnight at Pond House it is not too bad a morning weather-wise and the winds are not too bad either.  I think we have got away lightly compared to some areas in the last 24 hours.  Racing at Dundalk was abandoned last night, before the first race due to strong gusty winds brought about by Storm Amy while there was an inspection up at Hexham after race four but conditions were deemed safe enough to continue.  Various parts of the country are due to be windy today but there are no problems predicted for today's action.

There are just four Premiership football matches today and Leeds are at home to Spurs at 12.30pm for the early kick-off.  At 3pm Arsenal play West Ham while Manchester United are at home to Sunderland and desperately need a good result.  There is a cracking tea-time fixture, with Chelsea at home to Liverpool at 5.30pm.  Last night, Bournemouth were 3-1 winners at home to Fulham and now sit in second place in the table.

Exeter Chiefs are at home to Newcastle at 3pm in the Gallagher Premiership rugby. 

The more you take, the more you leave behind.  What are they?

Yesterday's Answer: A Mirror (If you drop me I'm sure I'll crack, but give me a smile and I'll always smile back.  Who am I?)

Have a great day!