Barney's Blog

Retirement time

HELLO everyone, Barney McGrew here again, the biggest equine legend since Champion The Bloody Wonder Horse. Who else is old enough to remember him?

Anyway, I want to start this week with a farewell tribute to my old mucker, Motawaazy, or Waazy as I like to call him.

The big news around Denton Hall is that Waazy’s retired and gone off to live with his owner, that nice Victoria Greetham human, down in West Yorkshire.

She’s got a lovely little ‘un, called Zara, and Waazy belongs to her now. Here’s a video of them enjoying each other’s company.

I have to say Waazy’s got quite a back-story. The Victoria human bought him from the Shadwell Estate at the Doncaster Sales in 2019. She got him for a bargain price because he had dodgy feet and a breathing problem.

Anyway, The Gaffer worked his magic and got him ready to win seven races, with his best season coming in 2021 when he won five times.

I was talking to the Victoria human and she’s revealed that Catterick Racecourse has invited Waazy to become their “Horses For Courses Equine Ambassador” because he won four times in 11 outings at the North Yorkshire track.

They are planning a blog about life after racing and Waazy will be making guest appearances. If anyone from Catterick is reading this and needs some tips about writing a blog, give me a call.

In the meantime, the Victoria human reports that Waazy has already got a big tummy because “he does nothing but eat”.

There’s nowt wrong with that - it’s what retirement is for.

Look after yerself, Waazy owld lad - send a postcard now and again. And carrots.

A LOT’S happened since my last blog, most notably big wins for Northern Express at Ascot and Tatterstall at Glorious Goodwood.

I bloody love it when we go down south and bag a big handicap. Up the north!

Those nice humans from the Sekura Group, who own Northy, and the Dave Stone human, who owns Tatty, must have won a few quid.

Therefore, they can afford to bring me some bloody carrots, can’t they? Tight gits.

IN my last blog, I was singing the praises of our apprentice, the Rhys Elliott human,who was going great guns and banging in the winners.

At the time, all his winners had been for outside yards, and I told him to get his finger out and ride a winner for the home side.

Well, a few days later, he rode a cracker to win on Zuffolo (pictured below, orange hat).

Well done Rhys, Bonny Lad, keep up the good work. That win percentage must be totting up nicely. Polos aren’t expensive.

FINALLY, did you know that The Gaffer’s biggest ambition on his bucket-list is to go for a helicopter ride?

Well, he got the chance to realise his ambition the other day when he got an offer to go for a spin in a helicopter used by the top southern jockeys to fly them up to the northern courses.

“How much do you charge?” the Michael human asked the pilot.

“It’ll be £200 for half an hour,” replied the pilot.

“You’re not spending that bloody much on a helicopter ride,” declared Carole, who looks after the accounts with all the ferocity of a lioness protecting her cubs.

After they’d argued about the cost for a while, the pilot said: “I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you both a free ride on condition that neither of you say a word during the flight. If you make a sound, you’ve got to cough up the £200.”

Michael and Carole agreed to the deal and went up in the chopper, with the pilot performing all kinds of terrifying stunts, including death-defying dives and loop-the-loops.

There wasn’t a sound from either of his passengers and, when he landed, the pilot said: "Wow! I've got to hand it to you. I did everything I could to get you to scream or shout out, but you didn't. I'm really impressed!"

To which Michael replied: “To be honest, I almost said something when Carole fell out – but 200 quid’s a lot of money!”

 

 

That's all from me for another blog folks, lots and lots of love - you know what to do.