Dettori's Day!

I thought that Van Gogh du Granit ran another respectable race last night reverting to hurdles at Ffos Las.  He looked as though he had every chance of winning at the last but was run out of it in the closing stages and finished third.  He is tough and clearly versatile so I am sure he will be winning again before too long.

There is a busy day in prospect with six meetings taking place.  Five of those are on the flat with the action coming from Royal Ascot, Redcar, Goodwood, Newmarket and Ayr as well as a jumps fixture from Market Rasen.  There are no runners from the stable today.

Well, it was certainly Dettori's day at Royal Ascot yesterday with Frankie riding the first four winners at the fixture yesterday and looking for a long time like he was going to make it five before Turgenev was just collared close home.  His 449/1 four-timer had the bookmakers running for cover on a day when he landed the Gold Cup once again on the John Gosden trained Stradivarius.  Dettori is such a great showman and he has now ridden 66 winners at Royal Ascot, including seven Gold Cup's which is a phenomenal record.

It could be the turn of Ballydoyle to hit back today.  Aidan O'Brien has three forecast favourites that all look sure to go well; Japan, Ten Sovereigns and Hermosa.  Ryan Moore is aboard all three of them.

The thing that surprises me is that the crowd has been down on last year each day.  Indeed, there were 6,000 fewer in attendance yesterday than the previous year.  More people must be watching it on television.  Incidentally, I have to say that I think the ITV team are doing a very good job with their coverage.  I enjoyed watching Jamie Redknapp getting stuck into his his dad 'Arry after he gave him three 'good things' which were all beaten.  Happens to the best of us Harry!

*****

It was good to see Andy Murray back on a tennis court, winning his first round doubles match at the Fever Tree tournament at Queen's.  Murray has had a metal hip implant but he looked to be moving okay.  It will be when he plays in the singles that we will really see just how much movement he has.

*****

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.  Teach him to fish and he will sit on a boat and drink beer all day!

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