Eamon Out Of The Gloom

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps action from Hereford and Ayr while there is an all-weather flat card from Chelmsford City.  Tom Scudamore makes the long journey up to Ayr for the ride aboard Mango Cap for the stable.  He contests the three mile handicap hurdle at 2.30pm - a trip that he won over at Perth earlier in the season.  He will probably need to improve again from this higher mark although he should go well once again.

I can't believe that racing went ahead at Haydock on Saturday.  The fog was so bad that the judge was unable to give the result of the fifth race as they could not see the winning post!  I thought that the general rule of thumb was that you needed to be able to see the last hurdle or fence.  Surely the BHA need to have a word with the Haydock officials regarding what is safe practice.  Not only that, what if there was trouble in running?  How will they be able to sort out any enquiries or objections?

Having said all of that, at least the Pond House team came away from Haydock's meeting with a winner as Eamon An Cnoic ran out a ready winner of the opening handicap hurdle under David Noonan, while Batavir finished third.

The weather was not an awful lot better at Ascot where Un Temps Pour Tout finished well from a long way back to take third in the Long Walk Hurdle so you can safely put a line through his Hennessy form.

How tough are these jockeys?  Richard Johnson had a horrible day on Saturday at Ascot, taking three falls yet he is back in action at Hereford this afternoon.  Is there another sport like jump racing?  These fellows really earn their living.

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There was much merriment around Pond House and the surrounding area when colourful owner Stuart 'Santa' Mercer came to town.  Stuart kindly bought gifts for David's children Jack, Sophie and Martha as well as the rest of the family and staff, while he provide much entertainment at our local pub The Culm Valley where he was a big draw for the children there.

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Andy Murray became the first person to win the Sports Personality of the Year award for a third time on Sunday evening.  I did have to chuckle when he said that his wife had voted for Nick Skelton - he pointed out that this was not a good move with Christmas just around the corner.

Manchester City played a great second half to come from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 - they are still seven points behind Chelsea.  The big match tonight is a derby between Everton and Liverpool at 8pm on Sky.  They always make for entertaining matches and at odds of 20/21, Liverpool look worth a bet.

My team West Ham were terrible at the weekend but still managed to scrape a 1-0 victory.  It's a funny old game sometimes.

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I sometimes eat my steak undercooked, but that's rare.  Have a nice day...

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