Royal Ascot Week

There are four flat meetings today in Britain at Carlisle, Chepstow, Windsor and Wolverhampton.  In Ireland there is a jumps fixture at Kilbeggan.  The stable does not have any runners.  We are of course on the eve of Royal Ascot and today we have the Goffs Royal London sale where there are 30 lots on offer and buyers have the chance to purchase a Royal Ascot runner.  Last year over £4 million was spent at the sale and this year the high profile horses on offer include Tropical Speed (entered in the Norfolk Stakes on Tuesday for Andrew Balding), Monteille (entered in the King Charles Stakes on Tuesday for Mario Baratti), Ghostwriter (who is likely to have an entry on Saturday for Clive Cox) and Montpellier.  

Many of the top jockeys will be spending their evening riding at Windsor, just down the road from Ascot where the the qualifier for the sprint series (7.30pm) is the feature.  

It was a great sporting weekend and I enjoyed trying to follow a lot of it!  Somerset won their Vitality Blast match away to Gloucester on Friday evening but then lost for the first time this season at home to Kent on Sunday.  Even though they lost, it was a cracking game in which they were again chasing a very high run total of 229 set by the visitors.  They only just failed in a thrilling match and they still head the South Group table.

JJ Spaun won the US Open golf at Oakmont in a dramatic final round that was interrupted by the weather.  The American birdied the last two holes to win from Scot Robert MacIntyre who finished runner up.  There was drama in the Canadian Grand Prix which was won by Brit George Russell but this was between teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who collided which each other towards the end of the race.  Norris is fighting for the Championship against Piastri and it is not what either driver would have wanted.  Bath are Premiership rugby champions after beating Leicester 23-21 at Twickenham on Saturday.  Jack Pipe had a great day out watching.  This was their seventh title but their first since 1996 and I believe they celebrated with a victory parade through Bath on Sunday.  

The FIFA World Club Championships is taking place and Bayern Munich beat part-time players Auckland City 10-0 in their match yesterday, PSG were 4-0 winners.  Chelsea play against Los Angeles at 8pm this evening.  The sporting action continues thick and fast this week and the Men's Queens tennis tournament gets underway today.  

I got camping insurance...but if someone steals my tent in the middle of the night...

I'm no longer covered!

Have a great Monday!