Bidourey A Beauty!

The stable enjoyed another nice winner yesterday when Bidourey was a ready winner of the bumper at Ffos Las under Tom Scudamore.  I thought it was a very good performance under a penalty on very soft ground.  It is always difficult to quantify the form of these races as there is often very little to go on, although conceding a stone to the Irish trained runner-up was probably no mean feat and he looks like yet another smart prospect for the team at Pond House.  As you would expect given the testing nature of the ground, the times across the whole fixture were on the slow side.

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with two over the sticks at Carlisle and Southwell as well as an all-weather flat card from Kempton.  The stable has no runners today although stable jockey Tom Scudamore makes the trip to Southwell where he rides No Through Road for his brother Michael.  No Through Road is on a four timer and carries a 7lbs penalty for his latest success, pushing his weight up to 12-5...Tom probably had a bit of Sunday lunch this past weekend!

I see that the Badger Beer Chase 'winner' The Young Master is likely to be disqualified after it emerged that he wasn't eligible to even run in the race.  He had run in two chases and had needed to have run in three to be eligible.  Obviously the trainer should have noticed the race conditions, although I find it incredible that Weatherbys did not pick up on it.

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It's not often that you will hear me say it, but I think that Paul Merson was absolutely right when he said that Arsenal were tactically clueless as they were beaten 2-1 at Swansea.  The manager Arsene Wenger seems to have completely lost the plot (I need to be careful because he certainly doesn't respond well to criticism!).  He is responsible for putting this team together - they are probably the worst Arsenal side for 20 years.  Spurs are another side who seem to have completely lost the plot as well - Harry Redknapp was a great manager for them and I bet there are plenty of supporters who would like to see him back at the helm.

Things certainly don't change at Newcastle - one minute they want manager Alan Pardew's head, the next he is their hero after they won their fifth straight game.  It is testament to owner Mike Ashley that he stood by him.

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There will be a fascinating finale to the Grand Prix season in two weeks at Abu Dhabi after Nico Rosberg won yesterday's Brazilian Grand Prix from team mate Lewis Hamilton.  Hamilton need only finish second to win the championship even if Rosberg wins, although any technical dramas or mistakes will make things very interesting.