Since the Ebor meeting at York last week there have been rumours going around that Aiden O'Brien maybe getting ready to leave the Ballydoyle outfit altogether. The plan appears to be for Joseph to go into training National Hunt horses when it becomes too much for him to continue to make the weight, something which he has always had issues with.
David Wachman in John Magneir's Son-in-Law and appears to be the obvious replacement if things do go ahead. However, another candidate has been surprisingly mentioned and that is David O'Meara. He is a young upcoming trainer who has had a fantastic last few years (over 500 winners since 2010 when he started) training some excellent winners. However, he has made a point of coming out and that he has not been approached by anyone at Coolmore and the rumour has no substance.
It will be fascinating to see how this unfolds as usually with a story of this magnitude, there is no smoke without fire.
Capital One Cup
Barnsley of League One entertain Everton in tonight's only Capital One cup match and it will be a great chance for some of the Everton fringe players to work they way back into Roberto Martinez's plans. Mirallas, Besic, Osman, Deulofeu and Naismith were all on the bench against Man City on Sunday so I expect them all to start in this match. In doing so it will mean Everton will have a pretty strong and experienced team out and I fully expect them to be comfortable winners against a Barnsley team that has had an average start to the season in League One.
Everton are 4/7 to win here but it is the handicap markets that I am interested in. They are a 6/4 shot to win -1 and I think they will win by two goals at the absolute minimum. We can get 9/2 for Everton -1 on the first half handicap and 4/1 for Everton -2 for the 90 minutes. I think all of these are worth an investment as expect Everton to come out quickly with the likes of Mirallas having far too much skill and speed for opponents two leagues lower down.
Horse Racing 15:30 Musselburgh
Ian Jardine's La Bacouetteuse won last time out at Ripon and although he has to carry an extra six pounds because of that win, a repeat performance should see him be good enough to make the frame. He has Kyle Currie on board and his seven pound claim takes care of the penalty although he is obviously not as strong as David Allan who rode him previously.
Silver Shuffle was one and a half lengths behind La Bacouetteuse and there is no reason to prevent him again getting close.
Wor Lass is also trained by Ian Jardine so he will have a fair idea of the stronger horse here. Wor Lass has won her last four races in which today's jockey Anna Hesketh has been on the last three of those wins. The last win was in a higher grade than this and although raised by a further six pounds because of that win, I think she will prove too strong here and make it five wins in a row.
Today's Selections
Barnsley v Everton
Everton -1 - 3 points @ 6/4
Everton -2 - 1 point @ 4/1
Everton -1 half time - 1 point @ 9/2
Musselburgh 15:30 Wor Lass - 1 point win @ 5/2