Crus Set For Paddy Power

It will be interesting to see what the handicapper makes of this performance as the race did fall apart somewhat with the outcome concerning The Package and favourite Michel le Bon from some way out (the pair of them coming 41 lengths clear of the third).  He is in the Hennessy at the end of the month and is a possible for that.  The weights are released on Thursday and a rating of 139 (his mark going into the race on Saturday) would have seen him out of the handicap last year, so any potential increase for this success should ensure that he would at least compete from the correct weight.

We weren’t so lucky earlier in the week, with Bladoun falling at the last in the maiden hurdle at Chepstow on Wednesday with the race seemingly in his grasp.  Our four year old gelding had shown some decent form in bumpers last season and he looked set to make a winning debut over hurdles, staying on strongly when challenged.  He took a nasty tumble, but I am pleased to report that he is none the worse for it and hopefully this experience will not have dented his confidence.  He will be intensively schooled again between now and his next start but he looks a promising hurdler in the making and he could improve further as he steps up in trip.  He was bought as a store horse from France with a chasing career in mind so whatever he achieves in the interim will be a bonus and he is certainly a nice one for our stable sponsors Wayne and Sarah Clifford to look forward to.

The Paddy Power Open meeting gets underway at Cheltenham this Friday and I can’t wait.  The stable has a rich tradition of success at the meeting and we had a wonderful time last year with a treble on the opening day and big race success in the feature Paddy Power Gold Cup with the ill-fated Great Endeavour.  We have some nice horses entered up this time around with the likes of Our Father, Dynaste, Katkeau, Top Wood, His Excellency and Kazlian to name but a few – I will have a good look through their races before deciding who goes where.

One horse that we do know about however is Grands Crus (pictured top of the page and right) – the dashing grey will make his seasonal reappearance in the Paddy Power Gold Cup on Saturday.  I have made no secret of the fact that I consider a mark of 157 to be reasonable enough, especially with the likes of Silviniaco Conti franking the form in no uncertain terms in the Charlie Hall Chase.  He has always shown plenty of speed so the trip of 2m4f for him first time up should be ideal – they will be going a good clip and that should help him settle early on.  He will be my only runner in the race.  As usual, all the latest running plans for the week ahead can be found on Chester’s Daily Chat.

There is an interesting video that has gone viral on the internet called Jockey Style – I understand that it is the handy work of former jockey turned television pundit and producer Luke Harvey and stars jockeys David Crosse, Gerard Tumelty, Sam Jones, Charlie Huxley and Colin Bolger, while another jockey Kevin Tobin wrote the words and does the voice over.  It is a very funny parody of the massive hit song Gangnam Style and is well worth a look…you can find it by searching Youtube.

Meanwhile, the jockeys at Pond House have a style all of their own as you can see from the photographs below.  Messrs Bargary (Tiger), Bellamy (Penguin) and Edgar (Monkey) turned up to head lad Eddie Buckley’s 50^th birthday party at the weekend in Hemyock – it certainly was a wild night!  Don’t have nightmares…

Finally, I am pleased to announce that as the flat season draws to a close (and huge congratulations to Richard Hughes and John Gosden on winning their first jockeys’ and trainers’ championships respectively) I will be the guest columnist in the Racing Post for the coming jumps season from this Saturday so make sure to pick up your copy!