Barney's Blog

A cold start but warm wishes for 2025!

Evening all, B-b-b-b-b-barney McGrew here for the first Barney’s Blog of 2025. Sorry for the stuttering start but it’s been so bloody cold, hasn’t it?

You feel it more the older you get – just ask the Kenny Williams human!

To be honest, I can’t really be arsed doing much in this weather, but we’re well into January so I thought I’d better wish you all a Happy New Year before you start moaning. There's nowt worse than a moaning human.

Can you believe we’re already a quarter of the way through the century? Scary, eh? I’m 22 this year, although my birthday isn't until March 26, so make a note of it in your diaries.

Anyway, I hope you had a nice Christmas and that you got what you wanted. Me? I got a measly packet of bloody Polos - AGAIN!. I was hoping for one of those vibrating rugs, only to be disappointed yet again. Cheapskates.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Polos, but I get them all year round, and Christmas is meant to be special, isn’t it? I'd like to be a fly on the wall if The Gaffer got the Carole human a packet of Polos.

Some of the other horses in the yard got pressies from the staff. As well as the usual mints and carrots, a few even got special horse treat advent calendars. (There’s a picture below of Roaring Ralph opening his present. It wasn't wrapped very well to be fair).

Despite the disappointment in the present department, I enjoyed Christmas Day. It was a quiet one, spent with friends, and the final episode of Gavin and Stacey was the highlight for me. A total of 19.1m people watched it - that's nearly as many as there are in my fan club! 

ANYWAY, what's been occuring elsewhere round the yard? Well, there were some cupcakes on offer after Northern Express won the Top Dog award for his big win at Ascot. That nice Charlene Collingwood human – she’s a Yard Supervisor now – bought the cakes, with pictures of Northy in the icing on the top. At least someone’s capable of a bit of imagination round here!

ON other matters, people keep asking me if I’ve got a New Year’s wish. Well, I’ve got three actually:

• To see our apprentice, you Rhys Elliott, back riding winners after he was sidelined by his horrible fall at Newcastle last October. We’ve missed seeing his smiling face around Denton Hall, so here’s wishing him a successful 2025.
• To see my old mate Dakota Gold win again at the age of 11. There was such a great reception when he won at Redcar last season, and it’s obvious the public loves him. One more hurrah to make it 17 career wins would bring a tear to my eye. Come on Goldy, old son.
• To see Northern Ticker fulfil his potential as he goes into his three-year-old career. I reckon he’s going to prove himself to be a star in 2025.

By the way, I’d love to know your New Year wishes! Do me a favour and stick them on Facebook.

AS you know, I always like to keep tabs on my old mates, and I spotted a nice picture of Motawaazy on the Catterick Racecourse website the other day.

Catterick was Waazy’s favourite course and they posted a picture of him in retirement down in Yorkshire with his owner, the nice Victoria Greetham human. He was making a snowman with Victoria’s little girl, Zara.

Don't get me wrong, it was lovely to see him, but what the hell is he doing wasting his time building snowmen? It's a waste of a good carrot if you ask me - and what in heaven's name are those eyes made of?

DID you pull any crackers while you were having your Christmas dinner?

I love pulling crackers and the jokes inside mine were especially good this year because, by pure coincidence, they all involved carrots:

• What did the snowman say to the aggressive carrot?
  Get out of my face!
• Why was the snowman embarrassed when he was spotted rummaging through a sack of carrots?
  He was picking his nose.
• What did the rabbit say to the carrot?
  It’s been nice gnawing you!

FINALLY, it’s my New Year’s resolution not to pick on the Kenny Williams human so much this year. It's not fair.

That said, I can’t resist telling you about the conversation I had with him when he came back to the yard after the festive break.

“What did you get for Christmas, Kenny, old lad?” I asked him.

“I got a pair of those trendy camouflage trousers,” he told me.

“How come you’re not wearing them?” I enquired.

“I can’t bloody find them!” he replied.

That’s all from me for now, folks. Happy New Year.