Weekend Jottings

With only four days to go until Christmas there are only two meetings taking place today over the sticks from Fakenham and Lingfield and the stable does not have any runners.  Stable jockey Tom Scudamore makes the journey to Lingfield where he has three outside rides so I will be cheering him on as he closes on his seasonal ton.  Indeed, with Bangor on Monday being the final jump meeting before Christmas and the stable far from certain to have runners there, our next racecourse representatives could be on Boxing Day...and what a prospect that is!

The entries for Boxing Day closed yesterday and David has made no fewer than nineteen engagements across six meetings.  The centrepiece is undoubtedly the King George VI Chase from Kempton and as expected David has confirmed Dynaste (pictured above) at the latest stage.  With the likes of Silviniaco Conti and Champagne Fever also in the line-up, it promises to be a real thriller.  I see that David also managed to find a few possible races for impressive Ascot winner Batavir to compete under a penalty - he looks sure to take a fair hike in the weights when the handicapper has his say on Tuesday, so he must be taken very seriously wherever David decides to run him.

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I have enjoyed watching the finely tuned athletes going through their paces at the Alexandra Palace during the early rounds.  I am of course talking about the World Championship Darts - Phil Taylor duly won his first round match comfortably, but he wasn't totally convincing and I stand by what I said on Friday about taking on the market leaders in the overall markets.

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There are a couple of interesting Premiership football matches taking place this afternoon.  Firstly Newcastle play host to Sunderland in their Northern Derby - there will certainly be no love lost there...it should make for interesting viewing - the kick-off is at 1.30pm.  Then at 4pm Liverpool host Arsenal in what should be a real nail-biter - both managers have been under fire this season so they would dearly love to get a result, although I will be sticking with the home side.  No prizes for guessing where I will be this afternoon and I will be hiding the remote away from Mrs Barnes!  Have a nice weekend...