What you need to know to start your day including going from all the tracks

The last day of July brings the first action of the Galway festival and a heartening sight straight away as Barry Geraghty returns from injury on an odds-on favourite in the colours of his retainer JP McManus.

With the other big festival at Goodwood not starting until Tuesday there is mixed action in Britain with Ayr's afternoon Flat fayre alongside the jumpers at Newton Abbot pleasing the holiday crowd on the English Riviera in Devon.

Windsor and Wolverhampton round off the day ahead of a thunderous rest of the week.

Going report

Ayr - first race 1.30

Good to soft, good in places (GoingStick 7.1 at 6.30am Monday). Inner rail out 5yds and top bend out 6yds. Races: 7 & 8 distance as advertised; Races: 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6 +18yds; Race: 4 +33yds.

Newton Abbot - first race 1.45

Good to soft (GoingStick 6.6 at 6.00am Monday). Chase bends moved out by between 2 & 4 yards. Hurdle bends moved out by between 6 & 15 yards. Bend positions affects distances as follows: Race 1 adds approx 102 yards; Race 2 adds approx 40 yards; Race 3 adds approx 80 yards; Races 4 & 6 adds approx 23 yards; Race 5 & 7 adds approx 68 yards.

Galway - first race 5.20

Flat - Soft (from yielding, yielding to soft in places); Hurdles - Yielding (from good to yielding). Following 6mm of rain overnight, there is a risk of showers today (approx 2mm), becoming more isolated overnight and tomorrow

Windsor - first race 5.35

Good to soft (from soft) (GoingStick 7.1 at 6.30am Monday). Rail will be dolled out by 6 yards in the straight to move off worn ground.

Wolverhampton - first race 5.45

Standard

Market movers

5.20 Galway: Le Richebourg 4-5 (from evens)

6.40 Windsor: Western Duke 9-4 (from 7-2)

8.30 Wolverhampton: Excel Again 5-2 (from 3)

What's on today

Goodwood continues to become clearer at least over race shapes with declarations for Wednesday’s seven races, headed by the week’s jewel in the crown the Qatar Sussex Stakes.

Then there’s Saturday’s five-day entry including the latest acceptance stage for the Qatar Stewards’ Cupwhich still has 125 entries to be whittled down. There will be a clearer picture of who will make the cut for the 28-runner heritage handicap, including Bunbury Cup runner-up Sir Dancealot, currently 45th on the list but well-backed in ante-post lists.

What to back

Galway gets the scrutiny as the popular festival gets underway and we have guest columnist Jessica Harrington with her thoughts every day this week for members club subscribers.

What to read

Josephine Gordon sees nothing wrong with Hayley Turner accepting rides in a stop-start season as she prepares to do battle with her in the latest in the Silk series for lady riders, both professional and amateurs, at Windsor this evening.

Goodwood local Mark Storey sniffs out the value in the top trainer and jockey market for this week's glorious five-day meeting.

What to watch

Catch up on some of the goodies coming your way through Galway and Goodwood week.

The best of Racing Post Sport

Reaction to Sebastian Vettel benefiting from team orders in the latest round of the Formula 1 world championship in Hungary.

Joe Champion serves up the A to Z ofbest betson the tennis circuit this week as England cricketers are poised to finish off South Africa at the Kia Oval today.

Final thought

It's great to see the timely return of Barry Geraghty on the opening day of Galway after being out of action since suffering a broken arm in a fall in the Irish Grand National in April. He looks set to return with a bang as the first of his two rides, Le Richebourg in the 5.20, is a short-priced favourite.

Read The Briefing from 8.30am daily on racingpost.com with all the day's latest going, weather, market moves and non-runner news