Lean Araig can shrug off an absence of 327 days and make a successful debut over jumps in the Supporters Club AGM Maiden Hurdle at Wexford this afternoon.

Oliver McKiernans charge ran two promising races in bumpers at the back-end of last year and it looks significant he is now immediately asked to follow his true calling.

The selection started off at Punchestown in early December, finishing fourth behind the very smart Black Hercules. He was beaten almost 13 lengths then, but 18 days later showed marked improvement at Leopardstown.

On this occasion, he finished three lengths and half a length third behind two useful sorts in Gordon Elliotts Noble Endeavor and Dermot Welds Windsor Park.

It is a contest that has been working out quite nicely and there seems little doubt Lean Araig needs a set of obstacles in front of him to begin to fulfil his potential.

He is well bred by Old Vic, out of Glens Music. His dam won five times over hurdles and also landed a Grade 2 over fences.

Measureofmydreams is hard to oppose in the two and a quarter mile Slaney Maiden Hurdle.

Willie Mullins former point-to-point winner took a bumper at Navan and then split two solid horses in Martello Tower and Kauto Grand Mogol in a winners bumper at Fairyhouse.

Mullins French recruit, Vroum Vroum Mag, successful in a bumper and hurdle in her native country and last seen when finishing second at Auteuil in March, will probably provide the answer to the Kerlogue Mares Beginners Chase.

Four of the five contestants in the Join The Supporters Club Mares Hurdle have a chance, with the nod falling on Cloudy Rock.

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Lean Araig set to make successful debut over fences

URBAN HYMN, the apple of Malcolm Jefferson's eye, makes the journey from his trainer's Norton yard to Cheltenham today in a bid to chalk-up his first win over fences.

A useful hurdler last season when he won a Grade 2 event at Doncaster in January, the strapping gelding has always looked liked a potential chaser. He made his debut over fences at Carlisle last month and failed in a photo-finish to beat the equally smart Duke Of Navan.

That race was over two miles, an absolute minimum for Urban Hymn, who will be much better suited by today's step up to two and a half miles.

It does, however, promise to be a demanding challenge. The Steel Plate & Sections Novices' Chase has attracted a high-quality field and if Urban Hymn can come out on top under Brian Hughes he will take a giant leap forward at this early stage of his new discipline.

The opening day of Cheltenham's excellent three-day meeting is highlighted by the 30,000 Neptune Investment Management Novices;' Hurdle, which promises to be a fascinating contest.

The booking of Ruby Walsh for Jonjo O'Neill's Champagne Present, who looked a horse to follow when narrowly beaten at Aintree last month, looks significant, but the four-year-old has a tough task against a few of these, including Blaklion, who won the Grade 2 Persian War Novices' Hurdle at Chepstow three weeks ago. He looks very smart.

Nicky Henderson's power-packed team is starting to get into top gear and the Lambourn trainer has good prospects with Anquetta in the Paddy Power Handicap Chase.

The ten-year-old looked in good nick when narrowly beaten on his comeback run after a summer break at Stratford. A bold bid is expected this afternoon.

Henderson's Oscar Time will also be a popular choice among punters in the opening Opus Energy Amateur Riders' Handicap Chase.

Although in the twilight of his career, the teenage gelding enjoyed a great time of things last season.

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Malcolm Jefferson's Urban Hymn in first fences win bid

"Iron Fences" Original Song
Iron Fences Eighthavenue (all rights reserved) I was walking down the street in the old part of town Where the houses need painted and most of the cars are broken down When I paused at a corner...

By: eighthavenue

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"Iron Fences" Original Song - Video

Justine - For Sale over fences

By: From Beginning to Winning

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Justine - For Sale over fences - Video

McGregor Fence is a small web company that sells dog fences. Barrier dog fences. Good-looking, inconspicuous, effective, and affordable barrier dog fences dedicated to containing dogs of all sizes, from Chihuahuas to Great Danes, with behaviors ranging from cuddly to pugnacious. We also sell other fences to keep animals in or out; so we are familiar with electric fences (which have their place) and also with radio fences (sometimes mistakenly called electric fences) in which the contained dog wears a shock collar. But experience has led us to conclude that shock collar fences are unreliable and that the best dog fences are barrier dog fences customized to different dogs' specific needs. So we specialize in them.

The formula is simple: For gentle dogs not inclined to chew the dog fence or dig, use our strong, affordable plastic dog fences. For chewers get our unchewable metal hexagrid dog fences. To keep all dogs from nosing under the dog fence, fold a bit of the fence bottom inward (toward the dog) and stake it down with foot-long metal ground stakes. And for serious diggers stake down a two-foot wide "anti-digging" barrier, this being a green metal hexagrid mesh laid flat upon the ground just inside the fence.

We focus on kits because they have everything you need. To fit dogs' different sizes and ambitions, we offer kits in heights ranging from 3.5 to 6 feet. One can of course buy components individually, on our Kit Parts pages, but each kit comes as a complete unit. Not everyone needs gates, anti-digging barriers, or braces, so they are not included; but if you need any of them you can find them on our Kit Accessories pages.

When you visit our Kits section you will find the components of each kit listed there, and you can view a detailed description of each component by clicking on the component's name. Kit prices start at $270.

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Dog Fences that Really Work, Barrier Dog Fences for All Dogs

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Fence Types, Fencing Styles, Fences - 1-888-Fencing

Tom Skerritt and the cast from Picket Fences.

Tom Skerritt was once described as the best known actor whose name is never remembered. You know that guy out of Alien, Top Gun, A River Runs Through It he was on television for a while too. I remembered him. He starred in one of my all-time favourite movies, Ice Castles, in 1978, as the father of an ice skater making her comeback after being struck blind during a training accident. I couldn't wait to ask him all about the tear jerker.

"Ice Castles?" Skerritt says from his Seattle home. "I'd forgotten about that one."

So we talk about Picket Fences instead, revisiting the town of Rome, Wisconsin, and catching up with its oddball residents. Sheriff Jimmy Brock and his deputies Max and Kenny, lawyer Douglas Wambaugh, Judge Henry Bone.

Picket Fences on DVD.

The DVD of series one and two have just been released and Skerritt is on the publicity trail, keen to reminisce about a show which won 14 Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe over its four year run from 1992 to 1996.

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"For a while there it was called the best show on television," he says.

"It's secret was the possibility of the improbable the humour, the incongruity, in the unlikelihood, for example, of having the Pope in small town America, having him be the primary witness to a murder and so he can't leave town because he was the only witness to the crime. And then having a Jewish attorney questioning him about the absoluteness of his faith.

Endearing: Tom Skerritt.

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Tom Skerritt recalls Picket Fences, the 'best show on TV'

1.40 Punchestown. Click here to bet.

Cheltenham Festival hero Very Wood bids to make it two from two over fences in the Dobbins Outdoor Catering Florida Pearl Novice Chase at Punchestown on Sunday.

The five-year-old was a shock 33-1 winner of the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at Prestbury Park in March, but disappointed on his final appearance of the season at the Punchestown Festival.

He bounced back to form on his return to action, however, jumping well in the main on his way to making a winning start over the larger obstacles at Galway last month.

Trainer Noel Meade said: "He was good in Galway and did it well. He's never going to go and win very easy as he's a lazy sort of horse, but we were happy with him on the day.

"He's been good at home since, this is a good race and we'll see how we go."

Very Wood is one of three runners for Gigginstown House Stud in a six-strong field, with Michael O'Leary's operation also represented by the Willie Mullins-trained Security Breach and Thunder And Roses from Dessie Hughes' yard.

Mullins also saddles Indevan, who since his disappointing chase debut at Kilbeggan in June has notched a hat-trick of successes, most recently striking impressively in the Grade Three Like A Butterfly Novice Chase at Tipperary.

Speaking on his website http://www.wpmullins.com, the champion trainer said: "Indevan was really good on his last couple of runs and is a course winner. He will like the trip but would possibly prefer better ground.

"Security Breach will love this ground and trip but his hurdle form suggests he may not be up to this."

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Dobbins Outdoor Catering Florida Pearl Novice Chase (Grade 2) 2m 6f

SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. -- The U.S. government now patrols nearly half the Mexican border by drones alone in a largely unheralded shift to control desolate stretches where there are no agents, camera towers, ground sensors or fences, and it plans to expand the strategy to the Canadian border.

It represents a significant departure from a decades-old approach that emphasizes boots on the ground and fences. Since 2000, the number of Border Patrol agents on the 1,954-mile border more than doubled to surpass 18,000 and fencing multiplied nine times to 700 miles.

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Unmanned aerial drones are becoming more prevalent -- and, as the technology develops, increasingly smaller

Under the new approach, Predator Bs sweep remote mountains, canyons and rivers with a high-resolution video camera and return within three days for another video in the same spot, according to two officials with direct knowledge of the effort on condition of anonymity because details have not been made public.

The two videos are then overlaid for analysts who use sophisticated software to identify tiny changes - perhaps the tracks of a farmer or cows, perhaps those of immigrants who entered the country illegally or a drug-laden Hummer, they said.

About 92 percent of drone missions have shown no change in terrain, but the others raised enough questions to dispatch agents to determine if someone got away, sometimes by helicopter because the area is so remote. The agents look for any sign of human activity - footprints, broken twigs, trash.

About 4 percent of missions have been false alarms, like tracks of livestock or farmers, and about 2 percent are inconclusive. The remaining 2 percent offer evidence of illegal crossings from Mexico, which typically results in ground sensors being planted for closer monitoring.

The government has operated about 10,000 drone flights under the strategy, known internally as "change detection," since it began in March 2013. The flights currently cover about 900 miles, much of it in Texas, and are expected to expand to the Canadian border by the end of 2015.

The purpose is to assign agents where illegal activity is highest, said R. Gil Kerlikowske, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol's parent agency, which operates nine unmanned aircraft across the country.

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U.S. drones now patrol half of the Mexican border

People in the city have in general welcomed Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation'smove to remove the fences around open spaces in the city. They feel it would give them better access to these places as well as help in maintaining them well.

On November 13, dna had reported that the civic body had decided to remove the fences around open spaces in the city one by one, so that they stay open to the public. It would also enable BMC to check if contractors responsible for maintaining them are doing their job.

On Tuesday, BMC removed the fencing around the one-acre garden beside the Oval Maidan near Churchgate, and around a garden in Vikhroli East. The civic body has also started work on removing the fence around the garden north of Oval Maidan facing the high court building. This work is expected to be completed in a day.

Jason Fernandes, a Santacruz resident, said, "We are happy that BMC has taken this step. At times, access (gates) to these parks remain locked, preventing residents from entering them. And many a time, grass is not trimmed; they overgrow making the garden look eerie. Removing fences would hopefully help make gardens clean and inviting."

Fernandes also said BMC should ensure that people don't encroach on these spaces.

For Matunga-based activist Nikhil Desai, it's a welcome move. He also want fences around traffic islands removed as they unnecessarily adds to BMC's expenditure. "It's a good move. There are many traffic islands in my area from where fences should be removed. However, BMC should be careful about removing fences around bigger gardens, as that could invite drug addicts and other anti-social elements to camp there."

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Gardens now look more inviting!