Nearly Christmas!

This afternoon there are four meetings taking place with all of the action coming on the level at Ayr, Yarmouth, Pontefract and Chelmsford.  Unsurprisingly there are no runners from Pond House today.

Mrs Barnes keeps reminding me that there are only 95 days until Christmas so I keep reminding her that I would like Kieren Fallon's autobiography which is due out at the end of next month.  It is now going to be called 'Form' and it will be fascinating to know if Fallon is going to lift the lid on all the stories he has been involved in down the years?  He has certainly been involved in his share!  Carol normally picks me up a book for my stocking so there is no excuse between the two of them.  Talking of Christmas, I see that some of the shops in Plymouth were already set up for the big day last week - it is going to be pointless taking their displays down before long!

It was the final flat meeting of the season at Sandown yesterday and the course will be given almost two months to rest and recover while the finishing touches are applied to the hurdles and chase course.  I love Sandown - it is a proper jumps course with that stiff uphill finish and it is normally the good horses that win there.

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It is the second One Day International cricket match between England and the West Indies today.  England won the first match in good style but the trouble is that so many of our players are unpredictable I wouldn't want to be getting involved at 2/7 as I am sure there are better football bets to be had at those sort of odds.  If Chris Gayle can stay in for an hour the West Indies could post a big score and he might be worth a small interest to be man of the match at odds of around 12/1.

If you followed me yesterday you will have noticed that all five of my football teams won giving a combined return of 6/4 - nothing to shout home about but a profit is a profit (although a couple of the matches were a lot closer than I had hoped!).  It is the fourth round of the Carabao Cup and Spurs take on my beloved West Ham while Swansea host Manchester United and Chelsea host Everton.

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Mrs Barnes told me that I had to give up drinking so I joined the AA.  It turns out that it was the Automobile Association but either way, I am on the road to recovery!  Keep smiling...

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