Lock Out Winner At Abbot

The stable was amongst the winners again at Newton Abbot yesterday with the brave success of Lock Out in the concluding bumper on his first start for the stable.  He put his previous experience to good use, by battling on once challenged in the straight to run out a tenacious winner under Tom Scudamore.  Already the winner of a point-to-point in Ireland, he should continue to do well and will really come into his own when sent back over obstacles and looks a nice recruit to the yard.

We narrowly missed out with Free Chakarte, who was beaten only a head into second in the juvenile hurdle.  She battled on really bravely and was only just denied and looks sure to be winning again sooner rather than later.  Port O'Clock filled the same position in the staying handicap chase for the David Pipe Racing Club.  The club has been knocking on the door for some time now, with seven (50%) of their runners this season finishing second - it would be great to go one better for them soon.  Kolisi was also far from disgraced in fourth in the 2m1f handicap hurdle.  He was challenging at the last and would have finished no worse than second (in my humble opinion) but for making a terrible blunder at the last flight.

There are six meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards from Haydock, Sandown, Beverley, Leicester, Carlisle and Nottingham, so there are no runners from the Pond House team today, although we will be back with three runners at Market Rasen tomorrow so come back then to find out more.

The big race today is the Group 1 Coral Eclipse at Sandown at 3.35pm.  The 1m2f contest is the first opportunity for this year's Classic generation to take on the older horses and whilst there are only six runners, it looks to be a quality renewal.  French Derby winner Vadeni has looked a real top-notcher, but as regular readers will know, I have long been a fan of Native Trail and I can't wait to see him tackle this longer trip, so I will be siding with the Godolphin colt once again.

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There was another good day for the Brits at Wimbledon with Cameron Norrie and Heather Watson progressing to the fourth round at the tournament for the first time in their careers.  Indeed, there could be four Brits in the last 16 of the tournament with Katie Boulter and Liam Broady in action today.  Meanwhile, defending champion Novak Djokovic continues to look very much the one to beat with a smooth success on centre court yesterday.

England's cricketers face a tougher task than anticipated against India at Edgbaston.  They looked to be in command as they reduced the visitors to 94-5, but an excellent 146 from Rishabh Pant took India to 338-7 at the close of play.

Qualifying for tomorrow's British Grand Prix from Silverstone takes place this afternoon and there was cause for optimism for Lewis Hamilton as he finished Friday practice with the second fastest time.  Could it be a false dawn?  Possibly, he was ahead of both Red Bull's and one of the Ferrari's so it would be a major surprise if he were able to match that today.

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How do you make a water bed bouncier?  By adding spring water.