Ballard Fourth

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with all the action coming on the level from Leicester, Brighton, Catterick and Chelmsford City.  Ballard Down performed with credit to finish fourth at Stratford yesterday in a most peculiar novices' hurdle.  The first four were the only ones who were ever involved in the race and those that were in front of our runner all had decent form in the book.  Ballard Down jumped well enough and there should be races in him over hurdles based on this evidence.

There is an interesting piece in the Racing Post about David Elsworth today.  We had some run-in's with Elsy down the years I don't mind telling you.  Even so, you have to appreciate what a good trainer he was...just look at Desert Orchid.

I see that Chelmsford City are calling for support after their prize money was cut.  They say there has been a drop in revenue from media rights following betting shop closures.  Once again, it seems to be the owners who are expected to take the hit.  When I first moved to Brixham there were five betting shops in the town.  Now, only one remains and I'm not sure that is going to be there much longer.  As far as I can see, prize money can only continue to get worse, just as David has said in his column this week.

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has apparently told his Manchester United flops that they will get him the sack.  I would think that the players couldn't care less, so long as they get their wages.  It is United's worst start to a campaign in 30 years.  The manager seems okay, he just isn't strong enough to be a United manager.

There was a good result for Andy Murray as he came from a set down to beat world number 56 Ignacio Londero of Argentina 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.  Only Murray will know if he is up to facing the big three, but at least he seems to be making progress.

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Thought for the day...I don't know why the boss calls it a week's wages when they only last for a day!

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