Excitement Mounts!

Our other winner E Street Boy is improving at a rate of knots now that he has been stepped up to 2m4f+ and he recorded his third win in the space of six days with an emphatic victory at Chepstow under Conor O’Farrell. He will now go up by a whopping 23lbs in future handicaps, so all things being equal he will run again at Fontwell on Friday in the novices’ handicap hurdle, where despite his penalties he will still be a few pounds ahead of the official assessor.

I am delighted with the form of the horses heading into the Grand National meeting, and pleased with the schooling that the big race participants have done over our mock Grand National fences. Talking of Grand National runners, I was delighted to meet the new connections of Or Noir de Somoza last week. The Swiss gentlemen joined us for a couple of days to get a feel for the place and see the progress their charge has made since his arrival. Urs and Silvio are a couple of characters to say the least…we joined them for dinner on Thursday and enthusiasm radiates from them. They are “living the dream” at the moment, and it is refreshing to see a couple of owners enjoying the experience of racehorse ownership so much. If Or Noir de Somoza wins the Grand National on Saturday there will be some party taking place in Liverpool on Saturday night!

Silvio and Urs with National hopeful Or Noir de Somoza 

Following the confirmation stage for the National on Monday, 65 horses stand their ground and that means that we have three that will get in the race at this time. They are Or Noir de Somoza, Comply Or Die and Piraya. Faasel just misses the cut, while Cheltenham Festival winner Junior still needs 19 of those above him in the weight to come out to get a run.

Following the rain that Aintree has had over the last few days, we have decided to declare Grands Crus for the Liverpool Hurdle on Thursday and a rematch with his Cheltenham conqueror Big Buck’s. We are under no illusions of the task that faces us – Big Buck’s is an amazing horse, but you cannot be scared of just one opponent and Grands Crus has come out of the Festival well, is in good form and is still open to further improvement. Tom Scudamore is in the saddle again and we are looking forward to another exciting race for sporting owners Roger Stanley and Yvonne Reynolds.

Chester and I will be staying with Gino (one of our owners) and his wife Jeanette near Aintree over the course of the meeting. Gino always looks after us well and makes sure there is a good supply of paracetamol on hand for the mornings! It should be an interesting week…