No Jump Meetings Today

I thought that Soulard ran a decent race at Southwell yesterday evening.  Our nine year old finished fourth in the handicap hurdle, only weakening before the last hurdle and he certainly looks capable of winning again in the coming months.  There are five flat meetings on this afternoon which means that we do not have any runners.  The action comes from Haydock, Yarmouth, Beverley, Hamilton and on the all-weather at Kempton and amazingly (considering the amount of rain that we have had) there are no inspections planned.  The other good news is that a number of local councils have decided to lift their hosepipe bans!

Many happy returns to Peter Scudamore - the former eight times champion jockey is 54 today, although he does look a lot older than that!  Scu was stable jockey to Martin for many years and he used to give me plenty of stick - he thought I knew absolutely nothing about horses...come to think of it, maybe he was a good judge!  Anyway, happy birthday Peter.

*****

I see that entries for a number of the handicaps for next week's Royal Ascot meeting close today.  David tells me that he will be entering Ashbrittle and Fiulin in the Ascot Stakes (a race he won with Junior in 2010), while War Singer could also receive an entry or two in the middle distance handicaps such as the Wolferton or The Duke Of Edinburgh.

*****

There is an important match on in the European Football Championships tonight as Portugal take on Denmark.  Portugal lost their first match against the Germans, and should they lose again this evening they will be out of the tournament.  I think they will play some attacking football and should do enought to edge it.  They appeal as the most likely winners to me and I will be having a little investment at odds of 21/20.  Kick-off is at 5pm.