Placed At Exeter

A foggy start to the day at Pond House today but hopefully that will burn off as the day goes on.  There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards from Newmarket, Beverley and Southwell as well as a good jumps fixture from Cheltenham.  There are no runners from Pond House today although stable jockey Tom Scudamore has picked up a spare ride at Cheltenham.  There are lots of runners there at present, so let's hope the ground (which is currently good) doesn't get any quicker otherwise I can see a raft of non-runners.  The big race of the day is the Craven Stakes at Newmarket at 3.35pm, traditionally one of the most informative Classic Trials.  Last year Masar ran out an easy winner with Roaring Lion third - the former went on to finish placed in the Guineas and win the Derby, whilst Roaring Lion finished placed in the Derby and won four Group One races including the Eclipse and Juddmonte International.  I wonder if it will prove such a good race this year?

Considering what a good meeting it is, I am surprised there were only 6,640 people at Newmarket yesterday afternoon.  Given that 1,500 are granted free admission if they have a CB postcode, that doesn't seem like a lot.  A third division football club would get a bigger turnout - what can we do to encourage more people through the turnstiles?  By the way, I wonder if I would get in under the 'CB' clause?!

I thought that both of our runners at Exeter ran with credit yesterday.  You Say What was not beaten far in the staying handicap chase at Exeter, beaten little over 2 lengths after 3m6½f.  Mount Nelly was fourth in the bumper and I thought this looked like a fair race on paper.  She showed distinct signs of inexperience on only her second ever start and looks as though she will benefit from a step-up in trip and she will certainly be winning races on this evidence.

Jockey Robbie Power has been doing a little extra work on the side.  He has been appearing in an 'All you can eat' advert for the Osprey Hotel in Naas.  I am not sure a jockey is the right person for this type of advertising!  Personally I prefer the 'Arry Redknapp adavert with the jam roly polys.

It is colourful owner Roger Stanley's birthday today.  Roger, who was part-owner of Grands Crus and Gevrey Chambertin is a youthful 64 years old today.  It must be his lovely wife Nicola who keeps him looking so young!  It is also John McCririck's birthday - he is 79 today and Mrs Barnes says that she still misses his banter on Channel 4's Morning Line with John Francome.

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Manchester United were destroyed 3-0 by Barcelona last night following a couple of errors on defence.  Barcelona won 4-0 on aggregate and looked different class.  The big game tonight is between Manchester City and Spurs in the Champions League.  City are 4/6 to qualify whilst Liverpool are 23/20 to win at Porto.

NFL quarterback Russell Wilson has agreed to a four year contract extension worth £107 million...just don't tell any of our footballers!

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Mrs Barnes left me the other day because of my obsession with health & safety.  I said to her, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out"!  Keep smiling...

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