Ennis 3rd At The Abbot

There are four flat cards taking place this afternoon with action from Brighton, Carlisle, Thirsk and Kempton.  As far as I am concerned the most interesting race of the day is the eighteen runner seller from Thirsk run over a mile.  It is a shame the race isn't over a couple of furlongs further as it would certainly have generated some interest from the jumps trainers.  It just goes to show that sellers are relevant and indeed needed as this one has the biggest field of the whole day.

With two defections at Worcester yesterday as the drying ground went against our intended runners, we were left with just three runners at Newton Abbot on Saturday afternoon.  Of those, Ennistown fared best in the valuable handicap hurdle - he stayed on nicely to finish third, only beaten four lengths and he looks as though he will be suited by an even greater test of stamina in future.

Well, I did say on Saturday that it would be interesting to watch how Tony Martin's runners fared on Saturday and York and he duly had a first and third in the Ebor with Hearbreak City winning at 15/2 and Quick Jack third at 10/1...I hope you had a few quid on.

I had better say happy birthday to long-standing owner William Frewen who was 57 yesterday.  William has had some good horses at Pond House down the years but the stand-out has to be Lough Derg who was a real favourite with the staff and race-goers alike.

*****

I was pleased that my beloved West Ham managed to beat Bournemouth 1-0 over the weekend but I have to concede that we were terrible.  Fortunately Bournemouth were even worse in a bad match.  I reckon a Christmas Carol has more plays than Andy Carroll - our centre forward is always injured.

It is early days but the two Manchester clubs, City and United appear to be the most likely winners of the Premier League.  It could be a struggle for six or seven of the teams to stay up.  Meanwhile Arsene Wenger has stated that if Arsenal spend big they are going to struggle to pay the tea lady!  Has he completely lost it?  They have over £200 million in the bank, while many of the other clubs own huge debts!  How much does the tea lady get?!

It may not be until December, but I see that bookmakers have already priced up the Sports Personality of the Year Award and Andy Murray is the 6/5 favourite, while Mo Farrah is second best at 3/1.  As the title holder from 2015 and with another Wimbledon championship on his CV I can't see any other winner at this time.

*****

I was put in my place over the weekend when Mrs Barnes pointed out that it was rude of me to speak whilst she was interrupting!  Have a nice day...