Ryan Third At Newton

There are six meetings taking place this afternoon with all of the action coming on the flat from Ayr, Catterick, Newbury, Newmarket, Chelmsford City and Wolverhampton.  Unsurprisingly there are no runners from the Pond House team today.  The big race of the day is perhaps the hardest to work out; The Ayr Gold Cup at 3.50pm is a 25 runner handicap over six furlongs.  The ground is officially good/soft so the draw is important so have a look at the Silver Cup an hour earlier to find out which side of the track is favoured.  If you can find the winner you may want to consider doing the lottery tonight!

We were unable to reach the winners' enclosure at Newton Abbot yesterday afternoon, although I thought that Hot Ryan ran another very good race to finish a close third in the staying handicap hurdle.  She was beaten less than two lengths from a 7lbs higher mark than when successful last time.  She made most of the running and only yielded close home.  She is clearly still improving and may possibly benefit for the return to a more galloping track.  Picture Painter finished a close fifth in the same race despite having to jump a stricken horse at the penultimate hurdle.  He clearly has plenty of ability and should pop up again at some point.

Pat Smullen was overwhelmed with the amount of money that has been raised by the legends' race of last weekend.  The total has now topped an incredible €2.5million which will go towards cancer trials.  As you will no doubt be aware, the race was won in great style by Sir Anthony McCoy aboard Quizical.

I see that trainer Mark Loughnane raised concerns that one of his staff was found to be not in a fit state to carry out his duties.  I wonder if he had been celebrating before the race?  Sometimes I wasn't in a fit state, but that was always after I had collected!

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I will be having a little wager on Burnley at evens to beat Norwich, Everton at 7/10 to beat Sheffield United and Newcastle to beat Brighton at 6/4.  Then my beloved Hammers play Manchester United tomorrow.  It looks as though Andy Carroll is going to play for Newcastle today - I wonder if he will play a full 90 minutes?  He could only have played 90 minutes cumulatively for West Ham last season!

Rory McIlroy scraped through at Wentworth, needing to par the last two holes to finish with a 69 and stay inside the cut line at one over par.  The sponsors want the likes of McIlroy to play the last two days, even if he is not at his best.  The poor love must be exhausted!

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Thought for the day.  If you leave alphabet soup unattended on the stove, it could spell disaster!  Keep smiling...

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