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Rain continues to pour down all up the west side of northern Britain and into southern Scotland. Firm ground specialists will be conspicuous by their absence at Carlisle on Sunday and there is no racing at all at Perth, which is waterlogged. Happily in these flexible days the BHB have rearranged the fixture for August 4th. So all that excellent prize money will not be lost.
Today's racing all over the country will no doubt suffer crowdwise from the England versus Denmark game but most courses will be carrying the commentary live and the Timeform Charity Day at the Knavesmire provides its usual competitive fare. Feature event is once again the £65,000 William Hill Trophy, the most valuable sprint for three-year-olds to be run all season. Twenty go to post and many of these have a more than sporting chance of success. FAYR JAG will again be the selection. He was on the point of being acclaimed the winner of the Coral Eurobet Sprint at Newmarket last month, when Just James made that sensational swoop from well off the pace to hit the front in the shadow of the line. That was such a remarkable performance that a fluke win could be suspected. Fayr Jag on the other hand is splendidly tough and consistent. He will give Willie Supple another fine ride.
The 9f Cadogan Silver Salver gets the action underway ar 2.15 and two northern-trained runners who catch the eye are Sarraaf and TONY TIE. Loyalty commands support for the latter but Ian Semple has his teams in such sparkling form that nothing would surprise me; least of all if Sarraaf were to win. He went down to Goodwood late last month and finished in the first four twice in a week. On both occasions, Sarraaf was travelling like the winner entering the final furlong but failed to pull out the anticipated acceleration close home. He is clearly hard to win with. The same can be said for TONY TIE but the Jim Goldie favourite should be excused his most recent failure. Tony Culhane was unhappy with the way that Tony Tie went down to the start at Ayr. At the post he dismounted and asked the officials to give his mount a careful inspection. In the end, Tony Tie was allowed to run though with hindsight, he should have been withdrawn. Connections felt that Tony Tie had perhaps been suffering from a touch of colic. Anyways, he was not himself. Prior to that race at Ayr he had been steadily running into winning form and in selecting the Scottish contender, one is trusting that the Ayr experience was a bad one-off.
CUMBIAN VENTURE could make it fourth time lucky in the 6f maiden at 4.20. The Tim Easterby juvenile has been staying on with power at the end of his three previous outings over five furlongs. He will appreciate the extra furlong and the form of all the contests in which he has competed has worked out reasonably well.
Down at Sandown BISHOP'S COURT has a clear chance to atone for his unfortunate traffic problems at Epsom where the gaps simply did not come in time. He is drawn well in the Royal Bank of Scotland Condition Stakes and he was full of running when the principals pulled up a few yards past the post in the Vodafone Dash.
Budden will be with the jumpers at Hexham, where a Scottish monopoly could be on the cards. JORDAN'S RIDGE, and Wilson Renwick were a shade outfoxed by Richard Johnson's attacking tactics at Perth last time. He seemed sure to pick up the leader in the home straight but the wily Johnson had kept a little up his sleeve on a proven two and a half mile horse and Jordan's Ridge did not quicken. He had earlier won well at Hexham and will be hard to beat in the 3.05.
GOSPEL SONG will appreciate the drop back to two miles in the 4.15. Alistair Whillans' hurdler did nothing wrong at Perth but just found the distance of 3m too far for him. Alistair's brother Donald, saddled LINDAJANE to finish too strongly for Arctic Sandy over course and distance last week. The mare is on the upgrade and she can win again in the 4.55.
Sunday and no Perth and very very tricky at Carlisle, who are also staging a Countryside Day with the gates opening at 10.00am. Alan Swinbank has his horses in great nick and TOUCH CLOSER, who would have beaten Sricky Green if there had been another couple of strides at Hamilton last month, is a proven stayer well suited to a tough 1m 6f handicap at Carlisle.
The rain has come at the right time for JEFFREY ANOTHERRED in the 6f Countryside Handicap at 3.45. The Michael Dods stalwart has been knocking at the door for a while now and ran well on going much too fast for him at Musselburgh last time. He is slipping down the weights and has not lost all his former sparkle.
SUN BIRD, such a promising third behind Pasithea at Ayr after a long absence, has only to repeat that form to win the 4.45 for Dick Allan.
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