Christmas Crackers!

Well, Christmas is all over for another year and I hope that you enjoyed the festive season.  It has been a remarkable few days on the racing front culminating in incredible scenes at Kempton on Boxing Day for one of the most inspiring day’s racing that I can recall.

  
Above (left) Kazlian and (right) Gevrey Chambertin complete a double for the yard at Ffos Las

First though, looking back to Ffos Las last Wednesday (where the ground was very testing), the yard enjoyed a short priced double courtesy of the successes of bright prospects Kazlian and Gevrey Chambertin.   They had both been purchased earlier in the summer from the Arqana sales – Kazlian had shown smart form on the flat, and benefitting from the experience of his previous run over hurdles, he was able to brush aside his opponents in the juvenile hurdle by fifty lengths without ever looking to be in the slightest danger under Tom Scudamore.  This will have done him the world of good and he looks sure to make up into a high class hurdler.

Gevrey Chambertin had been something of a talking horse since his arrival at the yard, and as a full-brother to our top class hurdler/novice chaser Grands Crus, it is not difficult to see why.  However, that is where the similarity between the two ends.  On the racecourse, Gevrey Chambertin is much more relaxed than his older sibling and on his debut Tom was able to ride him in a handy position and not worry about him exerting himself too much.  He obviously shares a fair portion of his brother’s ability as he came home thirty lengths clear of his rivals – such was the impressive nature of this success that bookies were quoting him for the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival in March.  He is much more of a long-term project than that though, and talk of the Festival at this stage is probably premature – he may have one more run this season before having a break and being given some time to grow into his frame.  He is certainly another exciting addition to the yard.

There was plenty to like about the hurdling debut of smart flat stayer Ashbrittle on the same card in the novices’ hurdle.  Despite having form on soft ground on the flat, he would never have experienced ground this testing before, but he nevertheless kept on nicely at the business end to finish a close second.  He will be given more practice over hurdles, and he looks certain to win his share over timber, particularly on better ground.  A couple of winners was certainly a nice way to sign off before Christmas.

Christmas Day saw the usual over-indulgence of food and a few drinks, while my son Jack has obviously been a very good boy this year as he was spoilt beyond belief by Father Christmas!

Despite a couple of non-runners on Boxing Day, we still had twelve horses competing at five meetings in this country as well as a runner over in Ireland.  The logistics of getting all the transport organised with horses and staff to the races is quite a feat, but matters went smoothly enough.  Kempton was a wonderful experience with Kauto Star producing an amazing performance to win the King George VI Chase for an unprecedented fifth time.  I don’t think we will ever see that achievement replicated and he is a great credit to his connections.

Of course, the highlight for us was the performance of Grands Crus (pictured below right) in the Grade One Feltham Novices’ Chase.  In disposing of Silviniaco Conti and Bobs Worth in good style he confirmed himself as the leading staying novice chaser in the country.  His jumping was once again assured and accurate in this strongly run race and we couldn’t be more pleased with him.

Anoraks will point to the time being nearly 3 seconds faster than the King George, and that has prompted bookmakers to install him as a general third favourite for the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in March.  He will certainly be given an entry for the big one as it looks to be a wide-open race (especially when you consider that other candidates such as Quito de la Roque and Rubi Ball were turned over in Ireland on Wednesday afternoon), but he will also be entered in the Jewson over 2m4f as well as the RSA Chase.  We will give the matter some serious thought and will not decide where he goes until much nearer the time.

We very nearly landed a quick-fire Grade One double on the day when Notus de la Tour finished runner-up over at Leopardstown.  Leading over the last fence under Robbie Power, he was only run out of things close home by Blackstair Mountain.  The ground had clearly dried out quite significantly and he will certainly be better on softer going.  He could return for a crack at the Irish Arkle at the end of next month.

We have plenty of entries over the coming days, details of which you will find on Chester’s Daily Chat.  All that is left for me to do is wish you all a very prosperous 2012.