National Week!

Of course, we have a number of other entries including Kazlian, Poole Master, and recent Chepstow scorer Shoegazer to name but a few, but plans for those are more fluid at this stage.

I am pleased that we head into the Aintree meeting with the horses remaining in good form.  Winners at Newton Abbot on Saturday and Chepstow on Bank Holiday Monday mean that we have now had 93 winners so far this campaign.  Ladyvie (pictured above) finally consented to put her best foot forward on her ninth start for the yard (21^st in all) by winning Newton Abbot’s 2m6f handicap chase under Conor O’Farrell.  She has always had the ability and there is a lot to be said for a mare in form - now that she has put her head in front, hopefully we can encourage her to do it again.

Talking of Conor O’Farrell, he will be in line for his first crack at the Grand National this Saturday when he takes the ride aboard Swing Bill.  “Bill” has twice jumped around the big Aintree fences, including when fifth in last season’s Topham Chase and will be an ideal mount for our promising conditional - I am sure that it will be the thrill of a lifetime for the young Irishman.  Meanwhile, we have confirmed that regular pilot and stable jockey Tom Scudamore will be in the saddle aboard ante-post favourite Junior.

Sadly as reported earlier in the week, The Package will not make the line-up.  He took longer than anticipated to recuperate from his great run at the Cheltenham Festival and will now instead be going home for his summer holidays with a view to bringing him back for a full campaign next season.

On the subject of promising young riders, apparently Mikey Ennis finished a somewhat surprising fourth in the latest round of the Fegentri amateur riders’ series in Oman last week.  The result moves Mikey up the standings, with plenty of time left in the series.  He was back down to earth with a bang on Bank Holiday Monday however, when taking a couple of rides at Fakenham!

Meanwhile, Jamie Bargarry who works in the yard was making his race riding debut in a point-to-point at Kingston St Mary and performed admirably when guiding former Pond House inmate Bathwick Scanno into third place in the maiden.  I am sure he will be in the winners’ enclosure before too long.

Also that afternoon, Shoegazer stepped up on his promising run back from a break when winning a very competitive handicap hurdle at Chepstow in good style under Tom Scudamore.  He handled the rain-softened ground well and with only three runs under his belt this term, he is fresher than most and could head to Aintree.

I can’t wait for the start of the Grand National meeting and I will be flying up to Aintree on Thursday with Chester and will be staying with our good friend Gino and his wife, the lovely Jeanette (who has a lot to put up with!).  It will then be onwards to Ayr, Punchestown, Sandown, while we will also be having runners in France at the end of the month.