There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with one flat card from Hamilton and two jumps meetings from Plumpton and Uttoxeter.  I will be making the trip to Plumpton with David where the stable has five runners; Bathwick Street, Street Entertainer, Purple 'N Gold, Massannie and Famousandfearless.  I have always loved the Sussex track and I spent many happy days enjoying the seafood from Barry Cope's fish bar.  I used to have one of his curries, while Martin would fill up on smoked salmon and prawns.  I think that the main reason we used to go there!  Our five runners all seem to hold decent chances so let's hope that it is a productive day.

We were pleased to play host to 60 members of the Racegoers Club on Friday before they all embarked on a visit to Newton Abbot races.  They didn't pick the best of days as it bucketed it down all morning, but even so I think they had a good time.  They watched the horses exercising on the gallops and saw a couple schooling (including Bathwick Man, pictured below) over hurdles before they were shown around the yard and we tried to tip them all the winners at Newton Abbot!

Bathwick_Man_hurdles_Sept14  Racegoers_club_visit

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I think that it is a great shame that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer decided to quit as manager of Cardiff.  Unfortunately he looked to be out of his depth and he has obviously found it very different in the Premiership compared with Norweigian football.  He seemed like a really nice chap and perhaps that is part of the problem - he is probably too nice to be a football manager.

Talking of football there is a cracking match to look forward to this afternoon as Manchester City take on Chelsea at 4pm.  I might have a few quid on City at 29/20...who on earth makes up some of these odds?!

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Despite some of my readers thinking to the contrary I am not a great fan of reality TV shows - I leave that very much to Mrs Barnes!  However, I did catch a bit of the X Factor and was amazed to see the egos of the judges.  I thought that it was supposed to be a talent show where the competitors were the stars of the show rather than the panelists!  What a bore...

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