One More Sleep!

I have already been busy ploughing through the form books ahead of Boxing Day.  With no fewer than eight jumps meetings taking place (as well as an all-weather card at Wolverhampton) it is going to take some doing!  Stable jockey Tom Scudamore will be flying between meetings to ride at Wincanton before heading off to Kempton.  Tom is very keen to get aboard easy Ascot winner Batavir who contests the 1.40pm race at Wincanton under a penalty before taking the ride aboard Dynaste in the King George VI Chase at Kempton and forecast favourite Alternatif in the 3.45pm race there.  Apparently it takes 36 minutes to fly between the tracks so, with a strong book of rides it could be a profitable afternoon for Scu and the Pond House team.  Batavir (pictured above) is my idea of a late Christmas present, let's hope that Santa thinks I have been a suitably good boy this year!

I am often quick to praise Towcester racecourse (in particular their initiative at allowing free admission to the track during race days), however on this occasion I must say that I was disappointed to see that they have mustered only £25,000 in prize money on one of the busiest racing days of the year - a bit of a gaffe I'm afraid.

It is Gerry Supple's 37th birthday today.  Gerry is one of David's assistants at Pond House and has been a fixture there for many years.  He is a big help around the yard and is instrumental in the schooling of the horses - he even used to ride a bit and enjoyed a few winners - in particular aboard the likes of Carryonharry and Fleet Cadet.

I understand that champion jockey A P McCoy was seen dancing at the Lesters earlier in the week.  The pictures are yet to surface, although I can only imagine that it would be like spotting a unicorn, finding a penny black or Luke Harvey tipping a winner!

If you are a fan of social networking website Twitter, you may have noticed that David (@DavidPipeRacing) tweeted a picture of himself with Dynaste and his lass Sarah Buckley yesterday - the three of them sporting some very fetching Christmas jumpers and Santa hats.  It is part of a competition devised by Kempton Park Racecourse and bookmakers William Hill to promote their Winter Festival meeting, featuring the King George on Boxing Day.  The picture that gets the most 'retweets' (or 'likes' on Kempton's Facebook page) will win £500 for the stable staff, so I ask you to please retweet the picture of Dynaste for David's hard working stable staff this festive season.  I will bring you the picture tomorrow by way of a reminder!

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It was good to see Alistair Cook score a century again.  Sadly it was not on a cricket pitch - former England cricket skipper Alistair Cook beat James Anderson at the Ally Pally in a one leg darts challenge.  Cook was in good form saying, 'It's the first time I have scored a century on TV for a while!'

Talking about darts, as the television cameras panned around the audience I saw a mushroom walk past...if you looked hard enough I am sure you could have found an entire salad!

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Not only is there some fantastic racing action to look forward to on Boxing Day, there are some cracking football matches too.  Chelsea take on West Ham at 12.45pm so my television will be flipping backwards and forwards between channels.

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A final thought for tonight...don't go saying to any strangers 'I don't care who you are you fat git, you are not getting your sleigh down off my roof!'