Day Three

Father Edward - loading on the lorry today
Today we have four meetings, obviously the big one is at Cheltenham plus Towcester, Hexham and Chelmsford.  The stable has four runners at Cheltenham today, Starchitect, La Vaticane, Doctor Harper and Father Edward.  Starchitect runs in the 4.10pm, a 24 runner handicap chase with Tom Scu on board.  He won last time out at Ayr and he won't mind the ground drying out.  I thought on 10st 11lb he should run a big race and hopefully will go close.  We run three in the Kim Muir amateur handicap chase at 5.30pm.  La Vaticane carries 11st 10lb and has good jockey Darren Edwards on board.  Darren won this race for Martin on Maximize in 2004.  She is a little bit in and out but has won this season and at 33/1 she has small each way claims.  Doctor Harper pulled up last time out so needs to bounce back to form but he ran well at the track on New Year's day and a repeat of that run would give him a squeak.  He has Lisa O'Neill on board and she is already a winners at Cheltenham this week.  Father Edward is another who needs to improve on recent form but Rex Dingle takes a handy seven pounds off which will help.

David runs Instagram in the 2.35pm at Towcester with Michael Heard on board.  He is a winner in France but pulled up on his first run over hurdles for us.  That was his first run since coming back from injury and the drop back in trip should suit so we are hoping he can run a bit better today.

I thought Poker Play ran better than his finishing position in the Fred Winter yesterday.  He looked like he will appreciate softer ground and a step up in trip in time as he galloped all the way to the line.  I am sure David will place this one to win.  The big disappointment of the day was of course Douvan in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.  He did not jump very well during the race and reportedly finished lame.  I see that one punter had £375,000 on to win £100,000 - I bet he feels lame this morning!

I thought the bumper was a strange race.  Fayonach was left at the start and I have never seen a horse make up so much ground in the last two furlongs and then to win with her head in her chest!  She must be some horse.  This was another winner for Gordon Elliott.  Gordon is leading trainer at the meeting with five winners and is having an unbelievable week.  The scray thing is that he said on the TV that his better chances were later in the week!  Ireland lead Britain 8-6 in winners.

Velcro - what a rip off!  Enjoy day three everybody!