Chilly Start

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards scheduled to take place at Market Rasen and Sedgefield.  Unfortunately there are inspections at both meetings owing to the drop in overnight temperatures.  I can't say I am surprised it dropped to -2ºc down here overnight and that is on the English Riviera!  Let's just hope that both meetings get the thumbs up.  There are no problems on the all-weather where the action takes place at Southwell.

I see there is to be an investigation into the dramatic drifts in the betting exchanges on the Mullins pair, Melon and Yorkhill.  The question I would like answering is, why do horses drift?  Chief Executive Denis Egan believes the betting patterns were suspicious enough to be looked into, with Melon drifting over 2½ points in the space of just 90 seconds shortly before the off of the Irish Champion Hurdle.

Sir Anthony McCoy has been trying to get former Arsenal legends Denis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry to play for his side in a charity football match against Cheltenham Town Legends on April 18th.  The jockeys lost 3-2 last year but did raise £25,000 for the Injured Jockeys Fund in the process.  As we all know, AP doesn't like losing very much and the addition of Bergkamp and Henry would set the bar pretty high - I saw Thierry Henry on the television the other day and he looks as fit as ever.  The trouble is, he may be a bit quick for AP's team!

Many happy returns to Rodi Greene who is 48 today.  Rodi rode for Martin for a few years and partnered Ilnamar to victory in the Coral Cup at the Cheltenham Festival.  He was a real grafter and a nice guy to boot.  He is a successful jockey coach these days!  Happy birthday Rodi, we hope you have a great day.

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I would think that Anotonio Conte is very near to the end of his career at Chelsea.  Watford beat Chelsea 4-1 last night and the Chelsea boss is asking for more support from the board.  I can't see Roman Abramovich having too much of that and my 13/8 about Conte not seeing out the season is looking like a good bet.

There are some FA Cup replays to look forward to tonight with Swansea taking on Notts County tonight at 8.05pm on BBC1.  That will please Mrs Barnes!  Notts County are in League 2 so surely Swansea should be too strong for them and 1/2 about Swansea looks okay.

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Thought for the day...Why is it that lawyers do not swear to tell the truth along with everyone else in court proceedings?!

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