King & Cobden

    Kingofthewest Winner at Chepstow

Last week we teamed up with Harry Cobden while Jack Tudor was banned and recorded our first winner together with Kingofthewest winning at Chepstow.  This was our eight year olds first win over fences and first win for a while so it was a particularly pleasing result.  He hadn’t run too badly in three starts over the larger obstacles so far this season to be placed and we returned to cheek pieces as the headgear of choice instead of blinkers which he had been wearing of late. 

He wasn’t totally straightforward during the race but Harry gave him a canny ride and was strong at the finish.  There were four horses in with a chance on jumping the last but once he got to the front he actually won going away.  He has come out of that race well and I don’t think the handicapper can be too harsh on him so hopefully we can find a similar sort of race for him to run well again next time.

It was a busy day for the stable last Tuesday and it went reasonably well but it would have been nice to have come away with a winner.  Only Fools was given a lovely ride by Rian Corcoran on his first ride over hurdles.  Held up toward the rear he produced her nicely at the business end of the race but just found a couple too good.  They had to bypass the second last hurdle as it was damaged on the first circuit and if they had jumped it I think it might have been a different result as we were only beaten ¾ length.  Rian is only 16 and it was a cool ride and he plans to join us full time in the summer when he finishes school.  Jurancon ran a very good race in the bumper at Newbury to be second.  Carrying a penalty is always very difficult in these races and it was a good looking race on paper beforehand.  The winner got first run on us but our five year old gave plenty when asked for his effort by Jack Tudor and he was closing on the winner all the way to the line.  The plan is to give him one more run in a bumper before putting him away for next season.  He is a very exciting youngster with lots of ability and a great attitude.

This Week

We have no runners on Monday but head to Chepstow on Tuesday with Via Dante and Bashful Boy.  Via Dante is yet to win but made a pleasing seasonal reappearance at Market Rasen last month.  He will have improved a bit from that run but he is a bit of a monkey and doesn’t always concentrate and put his best foot forwards.  This looks a fairly competitive race for the grade but he has an each way chance.  Bashful Boy has been a bit disappointing of late but will appreciate drying ground.   

On Wednesday we have runners under both codes with Lady Balko running over hurdles and Leicester and two on the all-weather at Kempton, Ocean Heights and Kintaro.  Lady Balko will appreciate stepping up in trip for the first time and I hope she has a good chance.  We are still learning about Kintaro and hopefully he can improve on his debut run for Pond House while Ocean Heights loves the track and has been a model of consistency this winter.  He has a better draw this time and the return to slightly further will suit but it does look a competitive race once again.  Aidan Brookes has been getting on well with him in the saddle and takes a handy five pounds off.

On Thursday we are likely to have runners at Ffos Las and Wincanton while we have entries at Southwell on Friday and at Wetherby on Saturday.  Keep checking the Daily News on the website for the latest news on the stable runners.

Gearoid Harney Update

I am pleased to report that Gearoid Harney will be back riding out at the yard later this week with a return to race riding not too far away either.  Gearoid had a nasty fall at Taunton at the end of December and took a bumper to his head and broke his collar bone.  He has been using the local Injured Jockeys Fund facility at Taunton to help his recovery and is very much looking forward to being back in action.

Weather Update

I returned home from Jamaica a week ago and the weather over here has certainly been warmer than while I was away!  Freezing temperature were replaced by rain although I thought it was still rather chilly but that may have just been the holiday ‘come down’.  It is good to be back in the full swing of things at home again though as I do enjoy my morning routine of feeding the horses and being on the gallops.