- Monday, 04 May 2026 10:58
- Written by G Edwards
Jack & Little Chiefy Winning at Flete (Photo:APX)
The last week has absolutely flown by as it has been a busy time. The new season is underway and we very nearly made it a winning start to the new campaign in the opening race at Uttoxeter on Saturday with Saccary finishing a neck second under Jack Tudor. Our seven-year-old is yet to win over hurdles and has now finished second on his last three starts but I don’t think he has done anything wrong in defeat and he should be winning races over the summer. Grand Claremont made his British and stable debut and found the ground a little too lively. These French horses can take a race or two to acclimatize to the British style of racing and our eight-time winner will improve for this initial experience.
This Week
Our first runners of this week come on Tuesday at two meetings, Ffos Las and Hereford. It is slightly frustrating to have two meetings in Wales on the same day but in fairness to all concerned, the BHA had to re-arrange the planned meeting at Worcester after they are having problems with their track and at Hereford they are able to accommodate nearly exactly the same races that were going to be run at Worcester. We have two runners at Ffos Las, Penn Avenue and Mancero and American Sniper goes to Hereford in the evening.
Penn Avenue didn’t run too badly at Ayr last time in a novice event but will appreciate returning to handicap company with Rian Corcoran taking off his very useful claim. She has a string of placed efforts to her name and she has a chance of getting her first win over hurdles fingers crossed. Mancero ran a career best at the track last time to be second. Lots of hurdles were taken out the last day because of low sun but we shouldn’t have that problem this time. He has taken a while to find his form since arriving from France but his last two runs have been good and a repeat of those will give him a good chance this time. Charlie Hammond has ridden him before and got on well and rides again today with Jack Tudor at the other meeting.
American Sniper runs in the 7.17pm handicap hurdle at Hereford with Jack on board and returns after a little break. He will enjoy the better ground he will have now and the handicapper has given him some help. He seems in good form at home and should run well.
On Wednesday, we also have three runners at two meetings, Best Night at Newton Abbot and Purple Owl and Savanna Storm at Fontwell. Purple Owl needs to bounce back from a couple of below par runs and has the assistance of Rian Corcoran in the saddle for the first time in this conditional jockey race. If he reproduces what he shows us at home, then he will run well. Savanna Storm makes his career debut in the bumper at Fontwell with Jack Tudor on board. He is a nice four-year-old by Ocovango and he is showing a nice attitude at home and has done everything we have asked of him. While it is his first day at ‘school’ and he is bound to improve for the experience he has had a couple of away days and has learnt from them so it will be interesting to see how he gets on.
Best Night runs at Newton Abbot and Harry Cobden rides. She was twice a winner over hurdles last season including over course and distance and she will like the ground. She disappointed at Taunton last time but was in good form before that and those runs give her a good chance in this race.
Later in the week will be quieter on the runner’s front but keep checking the Daily News on the website for all the latest information on the stable runners.
Winner for Jack
While Saccary nearly won at Uttoxeter on Saturday, just a few minutes after that race I was delighted my son Jack won his second pony race at Flete Park. While on form, Jack should have been winning this race, as we know it is not always as easy as this in any race! Flete is a tricky course to navigate and Little Chiefy is quite a handful to ride but Jack did a great job and learnt from his previous experiences. He made the running at a good pace, cornered better than before and then kicked on inside the final couple of furlongs to win unchallenged. While we got rather wet we did not mind a winner in the rain! The racecourse pony racing series begins in a couple of weeks’ time at Bangor and providing all is well the plan is to go there.
Stable News
Well done to Ashley Dascombe who rode his first winner of the season at Flete on Saturday as well. He rode our former inmate African Lady to victory, giving her a nice patient ride in the process. Ashley is heading back to New Zealand shortly for the summer to ride over there. He had a successful time out their last year riding winners and he was invited back again so it is too good an opportunity to miss. He will return back to work here in September.
Ben Lilly ran at South Hill point to point on Sunday and finished third in the conditions race with Jo Supple riding. The race was sponsored by family friends of Gerry and Jo, run in memory of Vanessa who sadly passed away and so it was nice for them to be able to support their race.
Amateur James Shaw is not back to work yet following a fall at Cotley point to point a couple of weeks ago but hopefully he will be returning later this week. He was knocked out in the incident and despite feeling not too bad in general he did not pass his concussion tests at the IJF Hub in Taunton last week. You then have to wait a mandatory seven days before you are allowed to take them again so fingers crossed he will pass them this time around. While frustrating for these young jockeys, the tests are there for a reason and show you that sometimes you are not as recovered as you may think!
Punchestown
Last week, Leanne and I enjoyed a good couple of days in Punchestown. While Thanksforthehelp could not repeat his win of twelve months ago, it was nice to catch up with various people from both sides over the Irish sea over a pint of Guinness or two! We bought a nice new acquisition from the sales after racing on Thursday in the shape of a lovely four-year-old winning point to pointer called Goodbye Earl. We will do a little bit with him in the next couple of weeks before turning him away for a summer holiday.
April Weather
In April we recorded just 27mm of rain at Pond House in ten days making it the direst April for four years. We had 75mm of rain in April last year but that followed a dry March and while we have had drier April’s it is definitely up there with the least amount of rain we have had in April over the years. Our driest ever April came back in 2011 when just 9.5mm with the wettest being in 2012 when we had just over 156mm of rain, maybe next year will be wet?! Our running total of rainfall for 2026 is 489.5 mm of rain which is a fair bit more than until this point last year and definitely above average for our records but still not as we as 2024 when we had had 531.5mm until this point.
