Good Form Continues

Even though the weather could dictate that it is a quiet week on the racing front, it is nonetheless a very important one for racing in general.  While we do not have any potential runners until Wednesday at the very earliest; we do have a number of entries for the remainder of the week including a raft (and that could be quite an appropriate term!) of entries for Ascot, Haydock and Wincanton on Saturday.  There is also the small matter of the National weights luncheon in London tomorrow, while we will also be hosting Channel 4 television cameras later in the week.

Even though the weather could dictate that it is a quiet week on the racing front, it is nonetheless a very important one for racing in general.  While we do not have any potential runners until Wednesday at the very earliest; we do have a number of entries for the remainder of the week including a raft (and that could be quite an appropriate term!) of entries for Ascot, Haydock and Wincanton on Saturday.  There is also the small matter of the National weights luncheon in London tomorrow, while we will also be hosting Channel 4 television cameras later in the week.

Back to last week though and the scoreboard kept ticking along courtesy of wins from Edmund Kean, Prideofthecastle and Tullyesker Hill bringing our seasonal total to 64.  While it was only a three runner contest, I was very pleased by the success of Edmund Kean in the 3m novices’ chase at Ludlow on Wednesday.  According to official figures he had to improve to concede weight to the useful The Romford Pele and he did just that.  Jumping well in the main (if a little left) he was more fluent than his nearest rival and did enough to hold on having appeared to put the race to bed early in the straight.  His sound jumping will continue to stand him in good stead over fences and he could still go to the Cheltenham Festival where at present he has entries in the RSA Chase and amateur riders’ National Hunt Chase over four miles.

I must confess to being pleasantly surprised by the manner of Prideofthecastle’s success at Huntingdon the following day.  Making his handicap debut from a mark of 124, he was given a good positive front-running ride from Tom Scudamore and he quickly had his rivals in trouble once upping the pace.  I had thought his rating was no more than fair, but he clearly relished the testing conditions and should be capable of winning again if reproducing this sort of effort.  Anything he does over timber is a bonus though as our seven year old should make a smashing chaser.

Tullyesker Hill was our third and final winner of the week when successful at Warwick on Saturday under conditional jockey Tom Bellamy.  He was another making his handicap debut, and fitted with cheekpieces for the first time and upped in trip to 3m1f he produced a nice performance to win by five lengths from outsider Cadeau George with the pair of them well clear of the remainder.  In the same ownership as Prideofthecastle, Bryan Drew really is enjoying a fine run of success which is no less than he deserves considering the investment he has made in the sport.

Also on Saturday, we had a couple of runners; Dell’ Arca and Swing Bowler in the valuable Betfair Hurdle at Newbury.  Dell’ Arca had made an immediate impression when successful on his British debut in the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham in November, while he was unlucky when hampered and unseating Tom Scu in the Ladbroke at Ascot while still holding every chance.  He proved himself a tip-top performer here failing, by only 1¾ lengths to concede 9lbs to winner Splash Of Ginge despite taking a knock three from home.  He has an entry in the Supreme Novices’ hurdle at next month’s Festival although he will also receive entries in all the handicaps around this sort of trip.

Swing Bowler was making a belated seasonal debut in the big race and ran a cracker considering she had not run since last season’s Cheltenham Festival.  She was another to be involved in the jostling three out, but she stayed on in pleasing fashion under Conor O’Farrell, failing only narrowly to grab fourth close home.  She had suffered a few minor niggles which had held her up, but this was a very good effort and she will probably now go for the mares’ race or the County Hurdle at Cheltenham.  She didn’t appear to get home last year, but she is stronger this time around and the manner in which she finished at Newbury would suggest that she should get the trip this time around.

Talking of the Betfair Hurdle, winning jockey Ryan Hatch paid the yard a visit on Sunday along with Sam Twiston-Davies.  The pair of them are great mates with Tom Bellamy and had been down to visit him, so they stopped in at the yard for a chat.   Having ‘done us’ at Newbury the day before, my father was keen to throw Ryan in the pool!  In all seriousness though, they are three extremely capable young jockeys’ with bright futures ahead of them...pictured left to right: Sam Twiston-Davies, MCP, Ryan Hatch and Tom Bellamy.

Looking ahead to this week, I will be off to London tomorrow (Tuesday) for the annual Grand National weights luncheon and it will be fascinating to see what senior assessor Phil Smith has done with the handicap this year.  The yard has six entries in Aintree’s centrepiece: Junior, Our Father, The Package, Swing Bill, Goulanes and Standing Ovation…you can find out the weights as soon as they are announced by checking Chester’s Daily Chat tomorrow morning.

We will be hosting the Channel 4 Racing team on Wednesday morning when they are paying a visit to the yard to film one of their ‘dark ones’ features.  Jockey Sam Thomas will be here with them, although I am not going to ruin the surprise by telling you which horse they will be filming…you are just going to have to watch to find out!

Finally, I was really moved by Saturday’s feature on the Morning Line with trainer Carroll Gray whose yard is based on the Somerset Levels.  The enormity of the damage caused by the flood is quite mind boggling and it will be several months before they will able to operate normally again.  Clearly devastated by the seemingly never-ending rainfall, we are full of admiration for his determination to carry on and wish him all the best for the future.