The Olympics Are Here!

It should certainly be an interesting day for sport - as well as six race meetings taking place this afternoon at Ascot, Thirsk, York, Newmarket and Chepstow, as well as a jumps card at Southwell, there is also the small matter of the opening of the 2012 London Olympics!  The smart money is for Sir Roger Bannister to be the person to light the Olympic flame - if he only has to travel about a mile it should take him no longer than four minutes - the legendary runner is a 7/4 chance to be chosen for the honour.  As for me, I will be watching the action from the comfort of my armchair with an assortment of snacks!

It is a busy day on the racing front although the stable only has one runner at Southwell, Dukes Art in the 2 mile handicap hurdle at 4.50pm.  He was a decent enough performer on the flat and has shown some reasonable form since switching to timber although the handicapper has taken no chances with him.  He wears blinkers for the first time this afternoon and let's hope that those, paired with some faster ground helps him to go close under Tom Scudamore.

*****

I was looking through the prize money on offer at Down Royal this afternoon and once again our racecourses are put to shame by our close neighbours.  There is €79,000 on offer across the card, with the least valuable race being worth €4,830 to the winner.  Meanwhile on these shores there is a meeting where there are two races with prize money of only £1,617 and a total of £23,000 across the entire card...hang your head in shame Chepstow.  The last time I heard, the Irish economy was in a bigger mess than ours yet somehow the Irish courses continue to be better funded than ours, so I ask, how do our racetracks continue to get away with it?

*****

You would think that with the cream of the British Isles to choose from a Great Britain football team would be better than an England one.  Well clearly not if last night's match against Senegal (if you are wondering, they are a small country in Western Africa) is anything to go by.  They managed to draw 1-1 with the British side at Old Trafford and a number of our side complained that their opponents were a bit too physical!  To me it looked as though they were trying to win!  Manager Stuart Pearce said that his team will get better but they are going to have to!  I find that Pearce's voice sends me to sleep - maybe that is part of the problem that some of his players seem to have too!