Sport is made for betting

Onto the big one which sadly looks like it will be blighted by inclement weather scattered throughout the day. Hopefully we have a track surface where it's not a mad race to the grandstand rail as soon as they hit the straight. The forecast has quite a bit of predicted rain - will the outside get chopped up so much jockeys will return to the inside? It will also be mighty windy with nasty gusts of up to 50mph. A good day for watching on TV... It could get a bit damp on those open-topped buses. A strong run in the Oaks yesterday from A La Prochaine, if only she'd not gotten so worked up on the way to the gates. The winner though was mighty impressive. THE BETFRED DERBY Epsom £2,000,000 Group 1 for 3yo Colts & Fillies, no Geldings 1m4f 1600 local, Sat 0100 AEST 1. Action - regally-bred Coolmore colt, 3/4 brother to last year's winner Lambourn, who has one win from six career starts. Since winning his maiden, he's been thrown against the good'uns, running a close t...

It's Classic weekend and it kicks off on Friday with the Oaks at Epsom. I won't ramble on about my usual reservations about the venue, you've heard it all before, or can look back in previous posts. June is a funny time for me, the domain renewal notice comes through and every year it's a question of do I continue or not, after starting this thing 18 years ago! Obviously, there's at least one more year of it... Oaks & Derby crowds have been nothing short of dismal in recent years but the Jockey Club to their credit have finally done something about it. The proof will be the pudding, hopefully the weather is half-decent so the public shows up, even if it is in the cheap seats in the middle! Will we ever see an Epsom crowd like this again? Aidan O'Brien has won eight of the last 14 editions of the race (11 overall), that's a handy starting point. John Gosden, now partnered with his son Thady on the licence, has won four including the greats Enable and Tagh...