Only just in. Looks like Tony was late filing his copy this morning. I agree with him about the July Meeting reverting to a Tuesday to Thursday format but it’s never going to happen.

Presumably, Liam lumped on Precise yesterday on account of the 9lb penalty imposed on older horses.

Tedious old bore. No self-awareness whatsoever.

Why is Northern Champion (drawn 1) double figure odds for the 7f Listed race at Chester today? Twice a winner at the trip, an excellent 9th of 22 in the Commonwealth Cup last time out, beaten under 6 lengths, running as if the 6f there was just on the sharp side. Worryingly easy to back on Betfair.

www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/breeders-cup... Very good winner but it’s disappointing to see Barry Mahon mentioning the weight-for-age concession as if it’s significant. You can absolutely guarantee he wouldn’t have said a word about it if his filly had been a 3yo beating a top 4yo.

Robbie Wilders in today’s RP. Danger Bay has a good chance in the John Smiths Cup but “laying a horse out” for a big handicap appears to have morphed from complicated, borderline devious, plotting and scheming into simply choosing a suitable race in which to run him next. He’s up 8lbs for Redcar.

www.racingpost.com/news/flat-ra... Cieren Fallon clearly a chip off the old block. I wouldn’t be Meghan Nicholls’ greatest fan (mainly because of her diction - I sometimes struggle to make out what she’s saying) but credit to her for spotting the incident after the line and flagging it up on ITV.

Hatteen earned an entry to the final classic of this season by winning the St Leger Trial Novice Stakes at Doncaster on Thursday. Here’s my review of the data and how his performance compares to what’s required to win a St Leger ⬇️ www.totalperformancedata.com/blogs/hatteen/

Coronation Cup form is working out an absolute treat. On a line through Illinois (76 lengths behind him at Epsom), Convergent looks a certainty this afternoon.

"Can you give us an example of a time you had to adapt and accommodate rapid change?"

Misses the event due to an “injured hamstring”. Annoyingly.

The “serial entrepreneurs” will no doubt move on to something else.

www.attheraces.com/blogs The latest from @simonrowlands.bsky.social

www.racingpost.com/news/flat-ra... A good old stick who’s added plenty of colour to the staying races in recent years.

“Since officially reclaiming the presidency in January 2025, Donald Trump has used the multitude of connections associated with the presidency to move a massive quantity of food storage containers and other kitchen accessories,” the report concluded

He won’t be going for the Ebor, Henderson says today.

First they came for people who had secretly taken millions of pounds in cash and gifts from a crypto-billionaire and a convicted criminals then been really twattish about it, but I did not speak up because it sounded like they kind of had it coming.

www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/cox-says-pri... The Papin takes place on July 19 so it certainly wouldn’t rule out Orthodox going for the Nunthorpe.

Truly terrible “journalism” from Liam Watson in today’s RFO. The aftertiming’s bad enough but to be so ignorant about the wfa scale that you’re describing it as a “10lb penalty” is unforgivable. I’ve no problem with those who argue it might need tweaking one way or another but this is just tripe.

www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/seven-days-t... “Can there be anything more stressful in the racing world than training for a trainer?” A good question (in an excellent article) from @emmacollingsberry.bsky.social but anyone who’s trained or ridden an Amo horse might have something to say about it.

From now on, every team at the World Cup should take a knee at kickoff. And none of this quick dip nonsense. A good 10-20 seconds, really fuck Trump up.

www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/venetian-sun... The article misses out Division, who is also declared. It’s a very competitive field even though the current crop of sprinters isn’t great. Venetian Sun’s price looks a bit on the short side.

Rumours in UK gambling that the regulator will tomorrow confirm plans to force operators to do "financial risk assessments" (affordability checks) when punters hit loss thresholds, including £1000 in 24 hrs. Industry is dead against it and could sue. Regulator saying nothing. Watch this space...

This week’s blog from Tony Stafford. I can’t agree with him about Bradley being singled out by the authorities for special treatment. He was clearly a popular character and a bit of a Jack the Lad but he brought a lot of his troubles on himself. Great jockey, though.

Went in for a few pints last night. As always, a great pub, friendly staff, excellent beer. Highly recommended.

it just wouldn’t be a surprise if FIFA declared Donald Trump the winner of the World Cup & the tournament’s all-time highest scorer www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

George Cottrell must look back nostalgically to the days when he was just in the news for being a crap gambler.

Fascinating contribution to the RP letters page today from Carlo Zuccoli on the Argentine origins of Irish Derby winner Benvenuto Cellini. 🇦🇷 @rpbloodstock.bsky.social

From this week’s New York magazine (via Readly).

6/4 (from 2/1) with PP. Doesn’t exactly get the pulse racing but you can understand their caution.

It’s not exactly giving anyone the gist when failing to see Wine Dark Sea has an entry in the Betway Trophy, an early-closer worth £51k to the winner over 14f at the July Meeting next Friday. Has only a 6lb penalty so will be 11lbs “well-in”. Unsurprisingly, he’s declared at today’s 5-day stage.

Blimey.

A new Horse to Follow: ON MESSAGE (Ralph Beckett).

Check out his expression.

And so it has come to pass. Just tried to place a small bet with Hills on a 14/1 shot in a big Sandown TV race tomorrow and was refused as it exceeded my “maximum stake” of £1.43. They’d not had the courtesy to inform me I was now restricted. I remain down with them over the last twelve months.

I’ll respect the fact that it’s a “premium” article by not reproducing it here but this article (on the new nursery season) in today’s Racing Post is very good and worth seeking out.

www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/we-thought-t... So did I. I was on at 20/1 ante-post.

www.racingpost.com/news/people/... Well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs.

www.racingpost.com/news/jump-ra... Such sad news although he’d suffered recently with dementia. A controversial and flawed figure but Graham Bradley was undoubtedly a brilliant jump jockey and he was associated with many of the great Dickinson horses like Bregawn and Wayward Lad. Rest in peace.

“Enjoy”.

A propos of nowt, the opener on that York ‘86 card was the 2yo seller. On the way to the track I expressed the view there was nothing in it with decent form and I might therefore back the newcomer, Derwent Valley. In the end, “sensibly” I didn’t have a bet in the race. The Tote paid £144.50 for £1.

www.attheraces.com/news/2026/Ju... Great piece on Mtoto and Michael Roberts, one of those jockeys you could instantly identify in a race due to his totally unique style. I remember seeing Mtoto run second in a York handicap as a 3yo - you’d never have had him down as a future multiple G1 winner.

Calandagan heads a likely field of eight after the penultimate declaration stage for Sunday's G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud - World Pool by PMU. #Calandagan (Graffard) Pride Of Arras (Beckett) Eydon (Balding) Leffard (Rouget) Cualificar (Fabre) Lambourn (O'Brien) Sunly (Graffard) Aventure (Ferland)

www.racingtv.com/news/third-r... For me, there’s a real question mark over Constitution Hill’s stamina for the Ebor trip. A strongly-run 10f might be best for him.

www.racingpost.com/news/flat-ra... Good. Just hope we’re not discussing “team tactics” afterwards.

www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/... From the very good Sporting Life website. Room Service might be an interesting outsider for the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood. 33/1 available.

Today’s RP. No disrespect to Martin Dixon but I’ve never found any jockey angle that’s assisted in making betting on horse racing more profitable. We all have jockeys we like/dislike and there’s always an up and coming apprentice who’s value for his claim but there’s no significant edge to be had.