Ranco Runs At Stratford

With the abandonment of Fontwell, there are five meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps action from Stratford, flat cards from Chepstow, York and Windsor and an all-weather flat fixture from Wolverhampton.  David has one runner today; Ranco (pictured above), who contests the 2m2½f novices' handicap hurdle at Stratford at 1.00pm.  He is yet to get his head in front over timber, although he has been running well in defeat, most notably last time behind a dual subsequent winner.  With the third finishing runner-up twice since, it looks like quite decent form for the grade.  Ranco won on the flat for us at Windsor on this sort of ground and looks to have a decent each-way chance with Tom Scudamore in the saddle.

We drew a blank at Worcester last night, with Mr Tambourine Man faring best of our runners with second in the 2m novices' hurdle.  Prominent throughout, he was headed at the penultimate flight, but stayed on well enough for second.  He looks more than capable of winning further races over timber.  Jewari Of Saints was disappointing in the 2m4f handicap hurdle, never really appearing to be comfortable throughout.  The going was certainly much quicker than the heavy ground she was successful on last time at Dieppe and she is better than she was able to show here.

Bluebell Polka ran well for a long way in the mares' maiden hurdle, still in with a chance until tiring in the closing stages, whilst Veiled Secret was beaten only eight lengths in the 2m7f handicap hurdle.

What a performance from Mishriff yesterday afternoon to win the Juddmonte International by six lengths.  It may not have been a vintage renewal, but he could do no more than trounce what was put in front of him.  It's just a shame that St Mark's Basilica was not in the line-up as his defection robbed us of a fascinating battle (St Mark's Basilica was very impressive in beating Mishriff in the Eclipse at the beginning of July) - hopefully they will get to clash later in the season.

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I see that the Japanese Grand Prix has been cancelled for the second successive season owing to the increased number of Covid-19 cases.  I am sure it is the correct decision, but why on earth were the Olympics (and currently, the Paralympics) allowed to take place?

The British Open snooker continues today and having seen off his former partner in the previous round, Mark Allen was a surprise casualty in the second round, losing 3-2 to Hossein Vafaei.  The pick of the second round matches looks to be the battle of the former world champions Stuart Bingham and Judd Trump, whilst currently world champion takes on Ali Carter.

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I used to date a girl with a lazy eye.  Turns out she was seeing someone else the whole time!