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DAVID CARR |
Weblog: What do you mean the Wi-Fi doesn't work? The life of a Racing Post reporter
Going to shock
What a summer, eh? A British man in the Wimbledon final. England whitewashing Australia at cricket. And soft ground at Doncaster in July. That's right. Incredible isn't it?
Soft at Doncaster, that renowned oasis of decent ground. So dry and well-draining that it's often nudging good to firm even in the depths of winter.
But things are getting better. The ground was so wet at the last meeting that racing was in serious doubt but though the ground was still officially heavy in places yesterday it has been drying out - it's mid-July, it should be - and reached good to soft midway through this afternoon.
Stayed dry all afternoon, which was just as well considering I'd come out with no coat for the first time since early-spring.
Coming out with no pen was a less shrewd move. Thank heavens for throwing for my habit of picking up any spare writing implement 'just in case' - so that I was able to get through the day with a 'Holiday Inn' of uncertain vintage fished out the bottom of my bag.
Cynics might say there was nothing much to write about at Doncaster anyway, what with the main action of the day taking place at the July meeting.
But Silvestre de Sousa tore himself away from Newmarket to ride a 100-1 treble.
The first winner was for Peter Chapple-Hyam, which led in nicely to Agent Allison's bid for tomorrow's Cherry Hinton Stakes - until that filly's late scratching meant a last minute re-write.
News emerged of transatlantic triple crown fever as more racing fans from the USA and Canada have been snapping up tickets for Camelot's bid to make history on St Leger day in Sepember - you have to feel sorry for them, they have no Frankel to keep them excited through the summer.
And it was nice to see that some people still read Lewis Carroll.
Ray Bailey won with Magic Destiny and said: "She was home-bred and John Gosden said the other day that you have to be insane to breed horses - but Alice said to the Hatter that all the best people are mad."
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