Derby Day!

It's a bumper day of racing this afternoon with no less than seven meetings taking place.  There are five on the level at Epsom, Musselburgh, Doncaster, Lingfield and Newcastle as well as two jumps fixtures at Worcester and Hexham.  The stable has five runners at Worcester today with Problema Tic, Most Eligible, Bathwick Man, Qulinton and Garryleigh representing the yard.  The last named has been running consistently well without quite getting his head in front - he has finished runner-up in both his starts this season and a similar level of form will put him right in the thick of things again.

Our only runner at Market Rasen yesterday afternoon, Darcey Diva ran okay when fourth in the bumper, staying on in the closing stages.  She looks like she could already do with a longer trip.  The winner, The Road Ahead won with a bit in hand and could be the type to follow-up under a penalty in the coming weeks, she paid a handsome compliment to another Pond House runner, Prideofthecastle who beat her last time at Stratford.

It was a sad day for the yard yesterday as we bid farewell to Colin, the yard accountant after 23 years of service.  It was his 65th birthday yesterday and he has decided that it is time to start taking it easy, although I understand that he will be helping his son with his new business so it isn't going to be all holidays and deckchairs!  We wish him well and hope that he has a thoroughly well deserved retirement.

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It's the biggest flat race of the season this afternoon as Epsom hosts the Derby.  The winner picks up £782,314.45 which is a huge amount of money (not to mention the millions the winner will be able to command in stud fees).  The hot favourite is 2,000 Guineas winner Dawn Approach who boasts a a perfect seven from seven record - the biggest danger looks to be the 1m4f trip - the 7/4 with Ladbrokes could be generous considering he was odds-on after his Guineas romp and most of the main dangers to him do not run.

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I see that the Lions play their first rugby match in Hong Kong today.  The temperature is so hot that they are going to have a break every fifteen minutes to take on water...apparently it will be about 33ºc.  It is probably not the best conditions for rugby, but at least Australia will not be as hot!

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It was a disappointing result for the England cricket team yesterday as they were beaten in the first One Day International by New Zealand.  We are missing a few of our star players, while a number of the England team managed to get themselves out to silly shots.

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Big game fishing off the cost of Devon...whatever next?!  Yesterday a local trawler caught a 300lbs Bluefin Tuna a few miles off of Babbacombe Bay.  You could see the anglers strapping themselves into the chairs on the back of their boats!