Barney's Blog

The mysterious case of the Covid jab encounter

Morning all, Barney McGrew here again. Still going strong, and a lot bloody smarter than your average human.

Well, the big news this week is that I’ve been investigating a mystery involving The Gaffer. I love a good mystery, like in those Dick Francis books, so it was nice to get my teeth into one for real.

It started when that Peter Barron human, the journalist who claims to help me write this blog, got a text on Friday night from a local high-profile figure in Darlington, saying he’d been for his Covid jab.

While he was waiting in the queue, he got chatting for 10 minutes with the racehorse trainer Michael Dods.

“Nice fella, spoke a lot about you – all good,” said the message.

Naturally, The Barron human was delighted to hear he’s well regarded by the Michael human, so he went up to him at Redcar Races on Saturday to have a word.

“How did your Covid jab go?” asked The Barron.

“What Covid jab? replied Michael.

“A fella I know was next to you in the queue last night and had a good chat,” the Barron human explained.

Suddenly, The Gaffer looked even more puzzled than usual, saying: “He’ll have had a job, I was on a plane back from Ireland - it wasn't me!"

Clearly, there’d been a mix-up. Had someone been posing as Michael Dods, the esteemed racehorse trainer, of Denton Hall? Who could it be? Was there a sinister motive? Or perhaps it was a simple case of mistaken identity?

Well, Barney put his private detective skills to good use and tracked down the man who’d been for his Covid jab – a nice gentleman called Robin.

Robin described the fella he'd been talking to as an “oldish fella” with a wife with red hair. Well, it didn’t take me long to work it out – it was Roger Saunders, owner of Zuffolo and Sparkling Red.

He must have been talking about having horses with Michael and Robin got the wrong end of the stick. Mind you, it's easy to see how the mistake was made - Michael and Roger are similar age, they have the same chiseled, handsome features, and the same dodgy dress sense.

I’ve broken the news to The Gaffer, who’s mightily relieved that the mystery's been solved: “At least I was mistaken for one of our better-looking owners,” he said. “It could have been worse – it could have been David Metcalfe!”.

Anyway, folks, mystery solved. If there's anything else you want me to investigate in return for a few carrots, let me know.

(I've added pictures of Michael and Roger below, to show how they were separated at birth. The top one's Roger and the bottom one's Michael)

ON the subject of The Gaffer going to Ireland, it’s that time of the year when he’s busy at the sales.

It’s a bit of a relief for all of us, if I’m honest, because we see less of him, and he can be a pain in the arse, hanging around all the time, giving orders.

That said, it means we'll be getting some new yearlings arriving soon. I love it because, once the hear about my reputation, they always come over to my field to ask my advice. They're dead nervous at first but I soon put them at ease.

With a bit of luck, there’ll be some stars among em.

TALKING of stars, I definitely reckon we’ve got one on our hands with Northern Ticker.

I thought Ticker ran a great race to be a close third in the listed William Hill Two Year Old Trophy at Redcar on Saturday.

He looked all over the winner – going comfortably and pricking his ears – until greenness and the heavy ground got the better of him close home.

He’s still a big baby and he’s going to be a much better horse next year – mark my words.

Well done also to Northern Express, who also ran a cracker at Redcar to be second in his first listed race.

Both horses are owned by The Sekura Group, run by Charlie Hill. Charlie’s a real rarity – a human I’ve actually got some respect for. Here's a picture of him with Ticker after the race.

BEFORE I go, I just need to say a big well done to everyone at the yard for surpassing the 50 winner mark again this year. It’s been a great effort by everyone and, hopefully, there’s more to come before the season ends. Onwards and upwards!

FINALLY, back to The Gaffer. While he was over in Ireland, he popped in to see a marriage guidance counsellor to get some advice on how to be a bit more romantic towards Carole.

“Why don’t you ever buy her flowers?” asked the therapist.

“I didn’t know she sold them!” replied The Gaffer.

That’s all from me folks. Lots of love. Send carrots.