No Jumping Today

Today we have four meetings to look forward to on the level at Salisbury, Nottingham, Newcastle and Kempton.  If it is a bit of jumps action that you are looking for, then you will have to look across the Irish sea where there is a National Hunt meeting taking place at Sligo (and unsurprisingly they are offering more prize money than any of the cards on these shores).

Following the first day of John McCririck's hearing for unfair dismissal, there is a fair bit of mud being slung.  I did say yesterday that neither myself or my wife like the new format Morning Line and it would seem that the viewing public agree with me as the audience has dropped by 10% since 2012.  I bet there are quite a few former casual viewers like my wife who no longer tune in...the trouble is that they have gone away from their roots and become very technical.  Add to that the lack of characters (and much as I hate to admit it, McCririck was one of those) and you are left with a very dull show.

I had to laugh when I read The Dickler's column in today's Racing Post.  He refers to former average jockey turned bloodstock agent Tom Malone who was present at a trainer's recent open day.  He was telling all and sundry about his full page advertisement in the accompanying magazine when someone turned around and said, 'it is just like a newspaper, there is always a cartoon page!'...priceless.

*****

There was a good result for Arsenal last night as they beat Napoli 2-0 in their Champions League match.  The Gunners looked impressive and now go to the top of their group and it would be a really good group to win.  Chelsea were also impressive in their 4-0 victory over Steaua Bucharest, although I would love to know how Fernando Torres managed to get away with scratching Jan Vertongher's face...it would seem that the only people who didn't see it were the referees and linesmen!  Surely the television camera evidence should have been used?  The FA really do seem to be a laughing stock.

What a result for Derby to come back from 4-1 down to draw 4-4 with Ipswich.  Steve McClaren must be as pleased as punch...and he was only sitting in the stands!  I'm afraid I still can't see Derby making the Premiership - Steve McClaren certainly wouldn't inspire me!

I was reading about Chelsea's Samuel Eto'o and his fleet of cars worth £4 million.  Do you think that he is getting paid too much?  3 of his super cars are kept under a tarpaulin at Chelsea's ground in Cobham.  Personally, I don't see the point, but I could quite easily get used to that sort of lifestyle.  I should have been a footballer...the trouble is an inherent lack of talent!