Quiet Tuesday

There are two jumps meetings today at Fontwell and Uttoxeter plus a flat card at Wolverhampton.  There is also racing in Ireland over jumps at Tramore.  David does not have any runners today but Tom Scu and David Noonan are both in action.  Back at the yard it is all systems go as usual with fairly high winds and a bit of rain it is not the nicest of mornings to be riding out but it is not too bad in the office!  We have a great team of staff here at Pond House and most have smile on their faces whatever the weather, come rain or shine the work has got to be done and there is a good team moral.  We have the staff Christmas party on Thursday evening and while a good time will be had by all everyone will be up bright and early on Friday morning to carry out the usual routine and we are likely to have a few runners at Cheltenham as well.

I see there is a lot in the paper today about the coverage, or lack of coverage that Racing TV is giving to Irish racing.  I find it a little hard to believe that people did not see this coming before a deal was ever signed.  It is impossible for the channel to cover all of the meetings properly when they have so many. I personally think they do a good job most of the time but on a busy day (like on Sunday when the feature races in Britain & Ireland clashed) I do hate the split screen.  Sunday was not even that busy a day by racing standards so why there was not better communication to try and stagger the starts a bit I do not know.  There is much talk of what will happen on Boxing Day when there really is a busy day of racing on both sides of the Irish sea.

Yesterday MCP went to Chepstow to do a bit of promotional work ahead of the Welsh Grand National on Friday 27th December.  MCP won the race five times and was there with other winners of the race including Richard Johnson, Henry Daly and last years winning jockey Tom O'Brien.  Look out for news of what they got up to on social media in the coming days.

Arsenal made a spirited come back in the football last night.  They came from 1-0 down away to West Ham to win 3-1 but they still looked pretty poor for a lot of the game and need some improvement under their new manager.  There is Champions League action tonight as Liverpool travel away to Salzburg and Chelsea are at home to Lille.  The Stamford Bridge visitors have lost four out of their last five away games so Chelsea should be good for the win this evening and Liverpool should make it a double win for the Premiership teams.