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Captain's Blog - 16th January 2012

It was good to be back in the fold yesterday at Kempton Park. The Racing was of a modest standard but when you have Eddie Freemantle as your expert guest you cannot go far wrong and I enjoyed his company. By the end of the afternoon we were just about frozen to the spot, but we were not the only ones to be shivering on a bitter winter afternoon as there was a big crowd at the Sunbury venue courtesy of a free entry day. Such days are a tremendous idea and yesterday there were a lot of families at the track enjoying the facilities and the Racing. Without the free entry there would have been the usual smattering of Racing die hards there, but even they would admit that they do not add much to the atmosphere. Kempton should try and race as often as they can on a Sunday making entry free. If they did this the word would soon spread that Kempton Park on a Sunday is a great day out for the family and the track would perhaps develop the same kind of following that for example Windsor on a Monday night has. Race on a Sunday, make it free and they will come!

Now that I am back at work I am very much looking forward to Friday when I will be back in the Studio with James Willoughby covering all of the action from Meydan. I am planning to have a look at all of the races that have taken place so far at Meydan this week to get a feel for what is going on and how the Tapeta surface is riding. Doing this will get me in touch with what is going on and prepare me for Friday. Of course nothing can prepare me for working with James, but I have years of enjoyable experiences working with him so I do not need to be too prepared for that part of the gig although he is always guaranteed to bowl me a couple of Shane Warne specials.

I put up a couple of selections on Saturday one of which scrambled into 4th at 5/1 so we did no damage. The other was going to win when falling at the last at Kempton. It is always annoying when you back the fastest horse in a race and it falls, some people like jump racing because of this element of uncertainty, not me though and particularly after Saturday. Not to worry, we have had a decent start to the year and we were not to far wide of the mark at the weekend.

Finally for today lets say it again; make Sunday Racing at Kempton a permanent fixture and make it free for all.

See you tomorrow.

Today's Selection

3.55 Wolverhampton - Maybeagrey