Blank Day Over The Sticks

There are six meetings taking place this afternoon and they are all on the level with the action coming from Newbury, Haydock, Nottingham, Hamilton, Pontefract and Newmarket.  Talking of the flat, you have to feel sorry for the ground staff at Bath where there is no watering system in place.  They have a meeting at the course next Wednesday and the ground (which is officially described as 'firm' at present) is so bad that six of the seven races on the card have had to be reopened as there were not enough entries.  Silvestre de Sousa says that he has never ridden on ground so quick, not even in South America.  I know this has been an exceptional summer, but I don't understand why they don't race there at the beginning and end of the flat season when the weather is usually more changeable.

The most prize money on offer today is over the sticks at Kilbeggan in Ireland where they host the Midlands National handicap at 8.30pm.  I thought I was in the wrong country for a moment as that normally takes place at Uttoxeter!  Anyway, there is good prize money on offer with £29,000 going to the winner.  Meanwhile, Irish trainer Charles Byrnes had a double at Killarney yesterday and I hope his wife wasn't listening to his post-race interview...he said he was going to put her up for sale he was so pleased!

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There was an interesting first day at Carnoustie for the Open golf yesterday with Rory McIlroy shooting a two under par first round which puts him only three shots behind the leaders.  Mind you, he did have a few lucky bounces but you are going to need those this week on these fairways.  If he had sunk a few of his 6 or 7 foot putts (which he seems to miss a lot of) then it would have been a really good round.  Tiger Woods drew a big crowd and he did not disappoint with a level par round of 71.

There are just 21 days until the start of the Premiership football and I see that Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez is telling fans it will be even harder to stay up this year.  They have only(!) spent £4 million and that was on a goalkeeper.  It sounds like a thinly veiled pop at the board of directors to me for not giving him more money to spend on players.  Sadly, in this day and age £4 million just about buys you a programme seller!

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I have just finished a close-up sketch of a fish...it is a scale drawing.

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