TURF

"When I lately came acquainted with the turfman of Ardeee"
This is a line from a song recorded by (Dermot O Brien Accordian player) who captained the Louth team to their one and only All- Ireland success in 1957. Thats a small bit of history for ya to start proceedings.
The song came to my mind very often in the past few months as I was reluctantly brought back into the turf scene after a ten year lapse. Nightmares still haunt me from past experiences. When you start into this business and you have not the proper equipment ----Forget it

What a load I have to get off my chest

The tullybuck man is back ----after the summer recess. What a load i have to get off my chest since i put the old computer to work last April. Cavan beaten in the first round of the Ulster championship---whats new about that i may say and dumped out of the Tommy Murphy cup (This competition should be played after dark when nobody is around)

Cheltenham over for another year

Cheltenham is over for another year. The good news is that J P Mcmanus is not broke, Mr O Leary (Ryanair) has the Gold Cup, and Mrs. Smith from England had her jewellery stolen from her hotel room. She and her husband owned that good horse Black Jack Ketchum, who won on the Friday. The horse was named after a great train robber in America so perhaps he has arrived back to relieve them of some of their goodies. I don’t think they are short of a few pounds as they own a small pad in Barbados worth thirty million. On the other side of the fence I admire those people who buy into National hunt racing as they invest in a sport where the return can be very small--Not like our brethren in the flat game.

Off the cuff

Happy new year to ye all. The turkey is gone -McKelvey the horse went also as did my new year resolution which shall not be printed.
Once upon a time this man arrived at bookies in Dundalk with the last of his savings and he placed them on this horse. He went outside and got up into a tree. Half an hour later this friend came out and says" Paddy you can come down--the horse won "--After Mckelvey i felt like getting into the Christmas tree--enough said about horses.