Testing Ground On The Flat

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with the action all on the flat from Newmarket's July course, Goodwood, Windsor and Redcar.  Once again, if you are a fan of the jumps you are out of luck, although there is a competitive National Hunt fixture at Wexford in Ireland which is covered on Racing TV.  The best racing of the day comes from Goodwood which features a Group 2 and a pair of Group 3 contests.  The Sussex track has had loads of rain of late and the ground is officially heavy at present and that will not help the favourite for the big race Benbatl one little bit.  As always, make sure that your selection is going to handle testing conditions if you are thinking of having a bet - plenty of those running today will not.

I see that jockey Ben Curtis was ejected from Newmarket racecourse yesterday after he mistakenly walked through an area exclusively for owners.  Curtis, who had made his way down from Yorkshire for just one ride was spotted walking through the enclosure (which was described as 'empty') before being escorted from the course for breaching the rules.  I understand the reasons for these protocols, although I do feel for Curtis who will not be allowed to set foot on a racecourse for two weeks as per Covid-19 requirements whilst the matter is investigated.

The Doncaster St Leger meeting will be the first to trial the return of a number of racegoers to the track next month and whilst that has to be considered good for racing, it would appear that not everyone is thrilled about the prospect.  Indeed, the local mayor has spoken out about it's go ahead with fears of a spike in Coronavirus cases.  At present up to 3,640 racegoers will be allowed to attend on day one of the festival with another 6,200 permitted on each of the final three days.  It is an important next step for racing, so let's hope that it goes without a hitch.

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The Community Shield takes place this afternoon at Wembley with Premier League champions Liverpool taking on FA Cup winners Arsenal.  Arsenal seem to have been a revelation in recent weeks, although they will struggle to beat a Liverpool side who finished 43 points ahead of them in the league - a view that is backed up by the bookmakers odds.  The match kicks off at 4.30pm and is covered by BT Sports.

Qualifying takes place for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix today.  Max Verstappen's Red Bull led the second practice times yesterday with Lewis Hamilton only third.  Sadly, this is probably only a false dawn with Mercedes likely 'sandbagging' and I fully expect them to be back at the head of the field in qualifying today.  Fortunately Spa is situated in the Ardennes and the weather is often extremely changeable.  With a more than 80% chance of rain for the race on Sunday, at least there will be one potential variable which could help shake up the result!

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Why did the chicken go to the séance?  To get to the other side!

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