Howzat?!

I was thrilled to see England retain the Ashes over the Aussies with an innings and 157 run victory in the final Test.  Australian captain Ricky Ponting is apparently considering his future - I am not surprised really...the Aussies were completely outplayed by England and I am bewildered at how we ever lost a Test to them!  This was probably the worst Australian side that I have seen during my lifetime and I bet some of the old Aussies are turning in their graves - one thing is for sure, Shane Warne certainly knew the right time to retire!

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There is a great card of racing at Newbury this afternoon and if you like to see good horses in action - dual World Hurdle winner Big Buck's is in action at 3.20pm and he is probably one of the best staying hurdlers of recent years - I wonder if connections will ever try him over fences again...I don't think I would if he was mine.  Big Buck's old hurdling adversary Punchestowns runs in the 1.00pm, a three mile chase - he would be different class to these on his hurdling form, so I am looking forward to seeing what happens.

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I see that former show jumping legend Harvey Smith is 72 today.  I can still see the sign he gave at the Horse of the Year show all those years ago!  Harvey was one of my great heroes - a real down to earth guy who tells it as he sees it.  Fingers up to Harvey!

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I watched Manchester United held to a draw by Birmingham last night.  Lee Bowyer scored in the last minute for Birmingham, although to be honest he did look to be offside.  Alex Ferguson certainly seemed to think so and he made no secret of it!  The Aston Villa slide down the table continues and I think that their manager is now on borrowed time - it will be interesting to see what the bookies think in the next manager to go markets.

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As I eluded to earlier in the week, the Christmas Day routine is much like any other at Pond House with the horses needing to be fed and exercised.  Pictured below you will see a few scenes from Christmas Day:

  
Above left: The staff at Pond House on Christmas Day and right: Sultan Fontenaille on the gallops