Oaks Day

There is an exciting day of action this afternoon with five meetings taking place - four on the flat at Epsom, Catterick, Goodwood and Bath as well as a jumps card taking place at Market Rasen.  The obvious highlight is the Group 1 Investec Oaks which is being run in memory of Sir Henry Cecil who won the race eight times between the years of 1985 and 2007.  My word he had some good horses win the race with the likes of Oh So Sharp and Diminuendo turning the Epsom Classic into processions.  The stable has no runners this afternoon, although we will have a rare runner at Epsom tomorrow on Derby day when Red Seventy (pictured above) takes in a 1m4f handicap.  David had better dust off his top hat and tails!

There are seventeen runners taking part in today's 1m4f contest and the form filly would appear to be Aidan O'Brien's Marvellous.  She looks as though the step up in trip will suit her well and son Joseph certainly has some exciting rides to look forward to - on Saturday he gets the leg-up on uneasy Derby favourite Australia.

I had to laugh yesterday when I saw Richard Hannon's response to being called into the Steward's room after his Storm Rider had won at Lingfield.  He was automatically referred as his three year old colt had not been placed in his three previous starts.  Hannon Jnr said, "Please don't take my licence away - it took me 38 years to get it!"  What a great sense of humour.

I see the Rewards4Racing scheme that was the brainchild of Josh Apiafi (who worked in the yard at Pond House, and I use the term "worked" very loosely!) now has over 500,000 members.  Rewards4Racing is a loyalty scheme which gives money off racing days, excursions and merchandise for simply shopping with many High Street retailers.  Josh actually rode a winner during his time at the stable, although it didn't take him long to realise that he wasn't going to make it as a jockey - I suppose he was quite sensible afterall!

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I was listening to the radio yesterday and was quite interested to hear former British number one, Tim Henman's theory on why the rallies are now much longer at Wimbledon than the were in the serve and volley days of Borg, McEnroe and Becker.  He says that they have rye grass down on the courts these days and the ball "sits up rather than skids through", making the ball easier to reach and return.  Not a lot of people know that!

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If you are a football fan and have to fly anywhere during the World Cup, I would strongly recommend checking out German Airways.  They are using new technology which allows you to watch live television in their planes and will be showing every match from the tournament live.  The trouble is, how many of us actually use their airline?

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