Rain, Rain, Rain!

It was good to be back with some jump racing yesterday.  Our one runner at Uttoxeter yesterday afternoon, Shallow Bay finished 5th over 2 1/2 miles - he wasn't beaten all that far and looked to me like he didn't quite get home.  He has already shown enough to suggest that he can win a race of this nature so perhaps a drop back in trip could be the answer?  There are three meetings on this afternoon on the flat at Kempton, Leicester and Hamilton - there has been plenty of rain about, so keep an eye on the official going description if you are looking to have a bet.

The next jumps card takes place tomorrow at my local track Newton Abbot.  It hasn't stopped raining down here in Brixham for the last two days and I am only 10 miles from the course.  They have reported over 60mm of rain over the last 24 hours and I can see the going coming up pretty testing.  Let's just hope that they are able to race.

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I am a big advocate of these Open Days.  I for one think they are very good for racing and that was borne out yesterday as 8,000 people turned up for the Newmarket Open Day yesterday.  It is certainly a privileged and eye-opening experience for the public as they are largely unaware of all of the work that goes on behind the scenes.  Let's hope that there are a number of new racegoers as a result of yesterday's Open Day.

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Rod Stewart is clearly showing signs of his age.  When he performed recently at Newbury racecourse he asked for an exercise bike and a massage table to be made available to him - back in his younger days I would have thought that Rod would have asked for a long-legged blonde!  I suppose as you get older the exercise bike will have to do!

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I know it is a cliché, but football is a funny old game - just look at the match between Liverpool and Manchester United yesterday afternoon.  Liverpool completely outplayed United but somehow managed to lose 2-1.  I didn't think that the referee had a great game and it is about time that we started using Gameday to help the refs.  Sorry Tony, but I think that even Sir Alex would agree with me!

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India beat England by 80 runs in the cricket over the weekend and looked a class apart from us.  The big question is...do we need Kevin Pietersen?