- Monday, 31 October 2011 16:43
- Written by David Pipe
The stable continues in good form and we enjoyed another couple of impressive winners last week: My Brother Sylvest at Haydock on Wednesday and Notus de la Tour at Carlisle on Sunday. After he had completed a quickfire double, we were forced into running My Brother Sylvest again quickly after the handicapper chose to raise him by 16lbs. He confirmed his wellbeing by scooting up at Haydock under Conor O’Farrell and in the process broke the track record for the second race in succession. He is clearly on the upgrade and hopefully he will continue to improve now that we have found the key to him.
I thought that Notus de la Tour produced a deeply impressive performance when landing the 2m4f novices’ chase at Carlisle on Sunday. Although there was not an awful lot of strength in depth (there seemed little to be gained from taking him to Exeter to take on the likes of Menorah and Sam Winner on Tuesday), he could do no more than beat what was put in front of him and he put in an extremely sure footed round of jumping considering it was his chasing debut. He had schooled beautifully at home prior to his debut and is clearly very exciting - hopefully he can go on to take high rank among this season’s novice chasers.
Tom Scu explains to former jockey Chris Grant how he could have won on this one!
Following the Racing Post Stable Tour that featured in their supplement on Monday, the accompanying video that features an interview with Peter Thomas as well as plenty of footage from around the yard and on the gallops is now available in our media vault. Click here to take a look.
Looking to this week there is plenty of exciting action in prospect with Exeter holding their Haldon Gold Cup meeting on Tuesday. While we are not represented in the big one, we will be introducing ex-French recruit Take Over Sivola in the handicap chase. He showed a decent level of form when winning at Auteuil on his last start and is a nice addition to the team.
Later in the week we have entries at Warwick and Chepstow on Wednesday, Towcester, Hexham and Fontwell, as well as Wincanton and Sandown on Saturday. Wincanton hosts a decent card that features the Badger Ales Trophy and we have entered former Hennessy Gold Cup winner Madison du Berlais along with Summer Plate winner Qulinton. As usual, the latest news on our runners can be found in Chester’s Daily Chat.
Talking of Madison du Berlais, entries have now closed for the Hennessy at Newbury and he features among our entries along with Great Endeavour. It would be great if Madison could repeat his success of 2008 – he has had his share of problems in the interim, but he is undoubtedly nicely treated on the best of his form, while Great Endeavour still has the potential to lift a nice prize. Indeed, the grey’s early season target is likely to be the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham’s Open Meeting on Saturday week – he has enjoyed a nice preparation and we are optimistic of a bold showing from him.
I am looking forward to seeing the Breeder’s Cup meeting from America this weekend – it is always a great way to finish the flat season and I would like to wish all of the British raiders a successful trip.
