Rock-et!

It was a great weekend for the stable with the successes of Baltimore Rock (Tom Scudamore, pictured above) in the valuable Imperial Cup at Sandown as well as grand old veteran Consigliere at Chepstow.  Event organisers might as well run the Imperial Cup on our gallop, the stable has won it so many times (9 including Martin's six wins) - Baltimore Rock is only in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham and looks like he needs quite a few to come out above him to get into the race.  There is a £100,000 bonus up for grabs for the winner of the Imperial Cup if he can follow-up at the Festival - I reckon David could be having a few sleepless nights between now and then!

I thought that Doctor Harper also ran well at Sandown, finishing a fine third in the EBF Final having been prominent throughout.  He stuck to his task well and looks sure to win plenty more races, while shaping as though he would get further as well.

It was great to see Consigliere land his first win of the season under Mikey Ennis.  Our eleven year old must be an absolute joy to ride - he made all and skipped around the Chepstow fences, he was so enthusiastic he looked like a horse of half his years.

Meanwhile, our only runner yesterday, The Wealerdealer ran a peculiar sort of race before finishing second under Matt Griffiths.  I would imagine that he would be suited by slightly softer ground or a longer trip if the going is good.  Either way, I'm sure David will be placing him to advantage over the coming weeks.

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There are three jumps meetings to look forward to this afternoon at Taunton, Stratford and Plumpton.  The stable has two runners at our local track Taunton - Keep The Cash and Mystical Flame and Tom Scudamore rides the pair of them.  Keep The Cash had some fair form for the grade earlier in the season and now returns from a short break - I imagine you would need to be careful when pronouncing the owners name...Kelly, Pipe and Fawkhandles - I wonder who came up with that one?!

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Just think a couple of weeks ago we were in danger of running the Cheltenham Festival in a bog.  Now the annual debate has started about possible watering the courses later in the week!  I wish track officials (and I'm not just talking about at Cheltenham) would leave the ground alone.  The winning horses should be those who handle the conditions best on the day.  As far as I am concerned artificially changing the going, is almost like artificially changing the result.

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Champion owner JP McManus celebrates his 63rd birthday this afternoon.  He will be looking for plenty of presents from the Cheltenham bookies this week I am sure!

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How can Manuel Pellegrini get his Manchester City millionaires beaten by Wigan?  If I was director of the board at City and have spent the sort of money that they have, I would be asking questions.  Arsenal are now 1/2 favourites for the Cup - if they do not win this trophy, the cabinet will be empty for another year.  It looks like the other big club managers are feeling a little sorry for Wenger!

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