Come On England!

Today there are six meetings on the flat at Chepstow, Goodwood, Musselburgh, Sandown and York as well as a jumps card at Aintree.  With the ground given as soft or even heavy at some of the flat meetings, it is hardly surprising that there are only small fields.  The incredible bit is that Aintree's ground is officially described as good (good to firm in places) - it's a strange old island that we live on!

I thought that our seven year old Bathwick Man ran another sound race in defeat last night at Hereford.  He carried 11-11 in the handicap hurdle and was not beaten far at all - the only trouble is that the handicapper will probably see fit to raise him another few pounds for finishing so close.  Hindsight shows that Dukes Art faced a difficult task against Jolly Roger who was completing a five-timer - the winner still looks to be about two stones ahead of the handicapper.  I would imagine that he will be turned out again shortly under a penalty.

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The almost incredible happened yesterday in Euro 2012 as Fernando Torres managed to score against Ireland.  Someone has obviously given the Spaniard a sat-nav to show him where the goal is located.  Ireland tried their hardest but the Spanish did look to be different gear.

The big game tonight is England against Sweden.  Surely we must be able to beat the Swede's in a competitive championship.  It is a must win match for England as we don't want to leave it until the last game of the group stages, even if Wayne Rooney will be back by then.  Let's just hope that he is not having a bad hair day.  Regardless, I will be on the edge of my seat - Sweden have proven to be a real bogey side for England for some time now.

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The US Open golf championship at Olympic Club, California started yesterday and I will be glued to it over the coming days.  The tournament has been sold out for an amazing two years and there were some 15,000 people around one of the greens yesterday - it was an amazing sight.  Tiger Woods shot a solid first round of 69 to leave himself in with a shout, while Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson shot some big numbers.