American Second At Perth

Impulsive American couldn't follow-up his chase success of Tuesday evening in the handicap hurdle at Perth yesterday afternoon, although he once again performed with enormous credit by finishing a good second.  He was 12lbs higher than when last scoring over timber, so he is clearly still very much on the upgrade.  He still picked up over £9,000 for two days work so it made the trip well worthwhile.

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards from Goodwood, Nottingham, Epsom and Ffos Las while there is also a jumps card from Stratford.  The stable does not have any runners today although Tom Scudamore has picked up four rides at Stratford and they all look to have good chances - the best of them could well be Collodi in the 2.10pm race.  His last run was in a Listed contest so he has his sights lowered considerably as he runs in a seller today.

The big race of the day is the Goodwood Cup which takes place at 3.10pm.  It is run over two miles and has seventeen runners - the O'Brien representative Sword Fighter is in good form and receives plenty of weight as he is only a three year old.  At odds of around 6/1 he looks worth an interest, especially with the stable in irresistible form.

I love seeing the horses turned out in the cages for a bit of grass in the afternoon sun.  The cages are moved about the fields on a regular basis ensuring that the horses always have fresh grass.  They look alert and well when they are out and are always taking everything in in their new surroundings.  It does most of them the world of good as you can see from the picture above.

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Sir Gary Sobers is 80 today.  What a fantastic cricketer he was and he was a keen racing man who used to phone Martin up in the early days.  Can you name the Glamorgan bowler he hit for six sixes in one over?  Don't nash your teeth over this one!

British golfer Andrew 'Beef' Johnston has been getting advice from wild thing John Daly.  The American has boozed and gambled away millions in a colourful career and has had four wives (I had better not say too much on that score!) so he is probably not the best role model, although he would be well equipped to warn of the potential pitfalls.

I see they have managed to sort out the agents fee over the Paul Pogba transfer and it is only £24 million!  Perhaps now he will be able to buy a new suit and throw away that old tee shirt.

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I fell in love at first sight...I really should have looked twice!

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