Excellent Evening!

It was another good evening for the stable last night as His Excellency (pictured above) won the handicap chase at Perth on his first try at three miles.  It was a largely Scottish affair with owners Sean and Josie Tracey, travelling head lad Bob Hodge and groom Zoe Martin all coming from north of the border!  Making headway two out, His Excellency led after the last and despite hanging to his right he ran on well to score by 3/4 length and the same and in so doing win for the first time since October 2012.  He may not be the easiest to win with but he certainly possesses plenty of ability as he demonstrated when third in the 2013 Arkle Chase over two miles at the Cheltenham Festival.  He remains open to further improvement at these sort of distances and can hopefully pick up another race of two now that he has managed to get his head in front once again.

It was another good evening for the stable last night as His Excellency (pictured above) won the handicap chase at Perth on his first try at three miles.  It was a largely Scottish affair with owners Sean and Josie Tracey, travelling head lad Bob Hodge and groom Zoe Martin all coming from north of the border!  Making headway two out, His Excellency led after the last and despite hanging to his right he ran on well to score by 3/4 length and the same and in so doing win for the first time since October 2012.  He may not be the easiest to win with but he certainly possesses plenty of ability as he demonstrated when third in the 2013 Arkle Chase over two miles at the Cheltenham Festival.  He remains open to further improvement at these sort of distances and can hopefully pick up another race of two now that he has managed to get his head in front once again.

We will be hoping for more of the same at Perth today as last time out winner Ainsi Fideles goes in the 2m4f handicap chase - the race is worth £12,000 so has attracted some fair horses.  Meanwhile Purple 'N Gold also looks to hold solid claims on the level at Sandown under Jim Crowley.

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon - four on the flat at Glorious Goodwood, Leicester, Redcar and Sandown and a jumps card from Perth.  There is an excellent card at Goodwood and the Sussex Stakes at 3.05pm is the obvious highlight.  The three year old Kingman has looked like an outstanding miler but there have to be slight concerns as he is definitely better on a softer surface.  It looks essentially a match between Kingman and Toronado but the Hannon four year old might just have the upper hand today.

Tiger Woods is a 16/1 chance to win the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone.  He has won eight times at Firestone, although you are still taking a chance if you are investing in the former world number one.  He doesn't look to have fully recovered from his back surgery to me and of more appeal to me is Adam Scott at 12/1, Matt Kuchar at 28/1 and Dustin Johnston at 35/1.

How good is Phil 'The Power' Taylor?  Taylor won the World Matchplay for a staggering fifteenth time, looking different class to Michael Van Gerwen.  The Power has dominated his sport in a similar manner to A P McCoy in jump racing, although he probably drinks a little more than A P and gets injured a little less!  Keep smiling...

I have two accounts these days - Facebook is my serious account, the funny one is my bank account!

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