Record Prices

There are two jumps meetings today at Ludlow and Sedgefield but the stable does not have any runners.  The going descriptions are described as good to firm at Ludlow and good at the latter and is why there are not a huge amount of runners at Ludlow.  They get underway at 2.05pm with what supposed to be a two runner novices hurdle but with the Paul Nicholls trained runner now a non runner it is a walkover! They do have a minimum of five runners in all the other races so a least there should be some good races to watch.  Sedgefield has slightly more runners with their minimum field size being just four horses.  There appears to be no rain in the immediate forecast so this could be a similar story for jumps racing in the next couple of weeks.  There are two flat meetings today at Nottingham and Kempton while in Ireland they have a flat card at Navan.

Lots of top flat trainers and owners are in Newmarket this week for the Book 1 Yearling sales which includes several blue blooded youngsters who are related to some of the top flat horses running at the moment.  Godolphin and Sheikh Mohammed paid 3.7 million guineas yesterday for a Sea the Stars colt out of the mare Crystal Zvezda and in doing so became the highest price paid for a yearling in 2025 and the most expensive Sea the Stars colt ever.  He also fits into fifth joint position for the most expensive price ever paid at this sale.   Godolphin outbid Amo Racing for this colt Amo fought back and paid 3.5 million guineas for a Frankel colt who is full-brother to the sale topper from twelve months ago and was the second most expensive yearling sold yesterday.  The bidding will no doubt be fiercely competitive today once again.

It was great to see jockey Nico De Boinville back in action at Stratford on Monday he came back with a bang, a winner!  He partnered the Twiston-Davies team trained The Expensive One to victory and in his interview afterwards he joked that he would come on for the run!  This was his first ride back since a bad fall in April and while I wouldn't necessarily be his biggest fan, there is no doubting he is a terrific horseman.  He has an exciting winter to look forward to and will partner the majority of the Nicky Henderson Seven Barrows team horses.  

It is the women's football that is keeping the show on the road this week and while Arsenal lost in Champions league action last night, it is the turn of Manchester United and Chelsea this evening.  The women's England cricket team beat Bangladesh in their World Cup match yesterday quite comfortably while today Australia play Pakistan.

What has a bottom at the top?

Yesterday's answer: What time is it? (Ask this question all day long, but always get completely different answers, and yet all the answers will be correct, what is the question?)

Have a good day!