- Thursday, 15 February 2024 07:50
- Written by G Edwards
Lady Balko wins at Hereford!
It was great to get our 29th winner of the season yesterday with a deserved first success over hurdles for Lady Balko at Leicester. She has improved on every start over hurdles and after a good second at Leicester last time she won easily yesterday. She travelled and jumped well before Jack sent her on and she powered clear from rounding the home turn. The handicapper will likely have his say after this but we do have her entered at Taunton next week so we will see how she comes out of this but running her again quickly under a penalty is a strong possibility.
Today we have three runners at Sandown, we were due to have one at Leicester as well but that meeting was abandoned yesterday afternoon. Sizing Pottsie, Man again and Placenet make up our Sandown trio while Moodofthemoment was due to head to Leicester. Sizing Pottsie runs in the opening contest on the Sandown card, a conditional jockeys handicap hurdle over two miles and Gearoid Harney rides. After a promising seasonal reappearance to be second at Uttoxeter he ran a bit below that level of form on his last two starts although it wasn’t a bad run at Leicester last time where he was fourth. The handicapper has given him a little more help and Gearoid takes off seven pounds today (he wasn’t on board at Leicester). He loves testing ground and I think he can run well today at about 9/2 in the betting.
- Wednesday, 14 February 2024 07:53
- Written by G Edwards
Heure De Gloire runs today!
Our lorries are heading in three different directions today with runners at Fontwell, Hereford and Kempton. We have two runners at Fontwell, King Turgeon and Heure De Gloire, one runner at Hereford, Lady Balko and one runner on the flat this evening at Kempton, Makanao.
The first lorry to set off was the one to Fontwell, with King Turgeon running in the 2.50pm handicap chase over three miles. He is a previous course winner over a shorter trip last season so we know he handles the figure of 8 track, but will definitely appreciate the extra distance today. He will also enjoy the testing conditions and this represents a slight drop in grade from the race he contested las time at Leicester. He dropped a pound for that run but with Gearoid Harney back on board today (was on board for his win at Exeter earlier this season) he claims a valuable seven pounds off his back. He does have to put a couple of slightly below par efforts behind him but I don’t see why he can’t and looks a good each way price at 10/1.
- Tuesday, 13 February 2024 07:44
- Written by G Edwards
Kingofthewest runs today!
Today we have three runners at Lingfield, Iceo Madrik, Kingofthewest and Activist with Jack Tudor on board the first two and Gearoid Harney has his first ride back on Activist. Iceo Madrik runs in the staying handicap chase at 3.00pm over 3m5f, he heads the weights but is the outside of the field. He ran okay over hurdles on his seasonal reappearance at Newbury but then was disappointing at Plumpton last time in the Sussex National. I thought he might run well that day but after travelling and jumping well for the first circuit he stopped rather quickly after that. The ground was probably not soft enough that day, but I am not sure that explains the run but he enjoys soft conditions and stays well so todays conditions should be fine. The handicapper continues to give him some help and I imagine he will be ridden slightly differently today in a slightly lower grade of race. His French form wasn’t bad but he is yet to reproduce that over here, fingers crossed we might see a bit more today.
- Monday, 12 February 2024 07:44
- Written by G Edwards
We are back to Monday again, (weekends, go far too quickly!!) and there are two jumps meetings today at Catterick and Plumpton. The stable does not have any runners. There is an all weather meeting at Wolverhampton and no racing in Ireland today.
Things were a little disappointing over the weekend for the stable, American Sniper cruised into contention three out in his race at Newbury on Saturday, but did not last home and weakened quickly. I thought he would appreciate the 3 miles but maybe on this testing going it was a bridge too far. I didn’t think Jilaijone ran too badly in the Betfair hurdle, held up towards the rear, He did pass rivals later on but was never able to get involved in the business end of the race. Both horses have returned home safe and sound and we can look forward to other days.
- Sunday, 11 February 2024 07:42
- Written by G Edwards
Ramses De Teillee runs today!
We have two runner today at our local track, Exeter and they are two of our most popular older horses, Remastered and Ramses De Teillee. They run in the veterans chase qualifier at 4.35pm and Jack Tudor rides Ramses while Brendan Powell rides Remastered for the first time. There are 15 runners in the race and it looks very competitive but Ramses De Teillee does head the betting at about 7/2. He did run very well in the final of this series at Warwick on his only start so far this season to be fourth last month and this is the first qualifier for the new season. He will like conditions and is in good form at home so I would love him to run well.
Remastered has yet to re-capture his best form of last season but he has only had the two starts this term and last time was in in the December Gold Cup at Newbury. This is his first run in a veterans race and in theory it is the best/easiest opportunity he has had for a while but it still looks a tough race! He is in as good a form as ever at home and Ashely Farrant who rides him every day has to sit tight every morning! Fingers crossed he can see out his race better today and be involved in the finish.
- Saturday, 10 February 2024 07:42
- Written by G Edwards
Unfortunately the weather has played it’s part in disrupting Saturday jumps racing with both Uttoxeter and Warwick abandoning their meetings on Friday morning. We were due to have three runners at Uttoxeter which included Ramses De Teillee but he will now head to Exeter for the Veterans chase tomorrow. Hopefully there are no problems at Newbury and we have two runners, American Sniper and Jilaijone.
American Sniper runs in the 1.30pm handicap hurdle over three miles and Jack Tudor rides. There are already two non-runners at the time of writing and they were two of the more fancied runners in the field and we are about 6/1 third best in the betting. He was a nice winner at Cheltenham November meeting and didn’t run too badly over a shorter trip at Taunton to be fourth when last in action. He has had a little break since then and runs here fresh and well. I think we would have preferred not so much rain to have fallen but he has finished second twice on soft ground so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. He tackles three miles for only the second time since his Irish point to point and I hope that will bring about some improvement off his mark of 128. It looks quite an open race but hopefully we have a good each way chance.
- Friday, 09 February 2024 07:45
- Written by G Edwards
Shot Boii runs today at Kempton!
There were due to be two jumps meetings today but after Bangor was abandoned yesterday we are just left with Kempton and fingers crossed that will be on as it has to pass a 7.30am inspection. After rain overnight on Wednesday we had quite a pleasant morning in the yard yesterday and our horses and riders stayed dry for their exercise but come 2pm the heavens opened and it was a rather grim afternoon with lots of rain. We did fair better than some places further North, including Doncaster which was due to race yesterday afternoon but was abandoned not far off the first race when a snow storm made the racecourse unsafe. We were due to run Stray Bullet there but decided to make him a non-runner in the morning and we were very glad we had not travelled all that way!
