Next Action Boxing Day!

Well, now begins the first of three days without any racing, indeed, there is no action now until Boxing Day but all of the staff have to keep working as usual.  The horses still need feeding, mucking out, grooming and exercising so things carry on very much as normal despite the festive season.  There will be a bumper nine meetings on Thursday with the King George Chase at Kempton the obvious highlight.  The race is due off at 3.10pm and the stable will be represented by Dynaste (pictured above) who has his second start against the big boys.  He ran a cracker on his seasonal debut when second to Cue Card in the Betfair Chase at Haydock and our flying grey seems to relish this track - all in all it should be a very exciting Christmas!

The stable drew a blank at Ascot on Saturday - although we had seven runners, they were only in three fiercely competitive races.  I thought that Consigliere performed creditably to finish sixth - he picked up a bit of prize money and looked as though the trip was on the sharp side as he stayed on in the closing stages.  Problema Tic was fifth and also picked up some prizemoney.  Meanwhile Ronaldo des Mottes was the best of our five in the feature race, the Ladbroke Hurdle, finishing a close fifth - this was his best run for some time although he looks like he could still do with a couple of pounds off his back.  Greatwood Hurdle winner Dell' Arca was most unlucky on this occasion as he unseated Tom Scu three out when another horse fell in front of him.  He still looked to be going well at the time and could well have been involved in the finish - there will be other days for him.

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I had a fantastic day yesterday, enjoying three hours of football action - you can imagine how pleased Mrs Barnes was!  Spurs earned three points by beating Southampton 3-2, although it could well have been about 8-7 if you consider the number of clear chances that both teams missed!  Sherwood really does need to address the issues he has with the Spurs back four - they are all over the place.

Can anyone tell me why foreign goalkeepers tend to panic when coming off their line?  They also seem to be in the habbit of punching the ball clear rather than catching it!

There was also a good win for Everton as they beat Swansea away from home - the Everton goals were both unstoppable strikes.

Tonight there is a big London derby as Arsenal take on Chelsea and it is on the television.  I would be inclined to give Arsenal the edge as the home team although Chelsea will certainly not be pushovers.

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It seems I was right about Liverpool's ace striker Luis Suarez.  These contracts seem to be a complete waste of time...he can negotiate a way out if Barcelona or Real Madrid come in for him at the end of the season.  By the way, his agent is already in talks with them!

I received a text message from our head lad Eddie Buckley last night - he quite succinctly wrote 'Who won Ches?!!!  Happy Xmas you old...' (I can't repeat the rest!).  I was quite impressed he could spell to be honest with you!

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I see that Graham Swann has retired from all forms of professional cricket.  Something is not quite right on that Ashes tour - the players are coming home ill and one has retired...talk about leaving a sinking ship!

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I have a bad shoulder so I went to see my doctor - he told me to lay off for three weeks and then quit for good...he was talking about my golf!