Barney's Blog

Ebor Festival Reflections

HELLO everyone. Barney McGrew reporting for duty.

Hope you like the hat. I had it made for Royal Ascot week but I like to get good value for money so I dug it out again for the York Ebor Festival. That's the opposite of my Carole - she'll use any excuse to get a new outfit. The same goes for the Sophie and Chloe humans. Does the Gaffer's head in.

Anyway, what a magnificent bloody feast of racing – I was glued to the telly all week. Mishriff was superb in the Juddmonte International; Snowfall was supreme in the Yorkshire Oakes, and Winter Power was awesome for the Tim Easterby human in the Nunthorpe Stakes.

That said, the highlight for me was the old stager Stradivarius getting the better of the courageous Spanish Mission in an epic battle for the Lonsdale Cup. What a bloody horse Straddy has been. My view is that he should be kept in training as an eight-year-old because there’s plenty left in the tank.

The only thing that wound me up all week was when the Racing Post described that Frankie human as “racing’s biggest superstar”. Well, we all know that’s cobblers – I’m much bigger.

SADLY, it wasn’t to be for my old friends Dakota Gold and Que Amoro in the Nunthorpe but they’ve done the yard proud and owe us nothing.

There wasn’t enough rain for Goldy but he still ran his heart out. Que Amoro just hasn’t been her old self so far this season, but we all still think the world of her.

We did get a winner on the board in the very last race of the festival when Blackrod – or Roddy as I like to call him – won the apprentice race under a young human called Billy yesterday.

Roddy told me he much prefers six furlongs, so he did really well to get up close home over five. He’s got bags of potential, so I’ve no doubt there’s more to come from him.

NOW onto less positive matters. The Tyne Tees TV cameras were here on Wednesday, as I revealed in last week’s column.

They did an interview with the Gaffer human on the gallops, they talked to the Connor human in the yard, they filmed Dakota Gold and Que Amoro. Did they come and talk to me? No, they bloody didn’t. Ignorant buggers.

I’ll be putting in a complaint to Ofcom.

FINALLY, the bit you’ve all been waiting for – Barney’s joke. This week, in honour of the York Ebor Festival, I’ve gone for a Yorkshire story.

A Yorkshireman by the name of Mick Easterby walks into a vet’s and says: "Ay up, can tha tek a look at our cat? It's not bin it's sen lately."

“Of course,”' says the vet. “First things first, Is it a Tom?”

"Nah" replies Mick. "I've got it 'ere wi me!"

Lots of love, everyone,