Blank At Soggy Stratford

It would seem that summer has returned with a vengeance!  We have had 15mm of rain at Pond House over the last 24 hours but at least it should be a bit drier today.  Windsor have been forced to abandon today's fixture after heavy overnight rain left the ground waterlogged and it is a similar situation at Chepstow where officials have already been forced to abandon Sunday's meeting.  That leaves us with flat action from York and Chester today and unsurprisingly there are no runners from the Pond House team.

It is day two of the Ebor meeting from York and they have a great card to look forward to with a Group 1, Group 2 and Listed contest.  The highlight is the Yorkshire Oaks at 3.15pm which features the brilliant 1,000 Guineas and Oaks winner Love.

Talking of York, there was another imperious performance from Ghaiyyath yesterday as he won the Juddmonte International pretty much as he liked, winning by a convincing three lengths.  When allowed an easy lead over this sort of trip he is capable of some massive performances although it is still to be seen whether he will be as effective over 1m4f against the top class rivals he will face in the Arc.

Our two runners at Stratford proved disappointing yesterday with Jasmin des Bordes beaten from an early stage in the staying handicap hurdle having tried to chase the runaway leader/winner.  There had been plenty of rain and the ground was testing which he did not seem to like it at all.  It was a similar story for Queen Adelaide on her first start for nine months and she will be seen to better effect when it is not such a slog.

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The football fixtures for the season ahead are due to be announced this morning at 9.00am.  The new season gets underway in just over three weeks on 12th September with the new campaign shortened by five weeks owing to the late finish on account of the Coronavirus pandemic.

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Three couples are trying to get married at the same church. There is a young couple, a middle-aged couple, and an elderly couple. The three couples meet with the priest and discuss when they can get married.

"If you wish to get married in my church, you must all go one month without having sex," says the priest.

One month later the three couples return to the church and talk to the priest. He then asks the elderly couple, "Have you completed the month without sex?"

"Yes we have, it was easy," replies the elderly couple.

"How about you?" He asks the middle-aged couple.

"It was hard, but we didn't have sex for the whole month," they respond.

"And how about you two?" He asks the young couple.

"No we couldn't do it," responds the boyfriend.

"Tell me why," says the priest.

"Well my girlfriend had a can of sweetcorn in her hand and she accidentally dropped it. She bent over to pick it up and that's when it happened."

The priest then tells them, "You're not welcome in my church."

"We're not welcome in the supermarket either," says the boyfriend.