- Saturday, 29 July 2017 07:19
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
It is a busy day with seven meetings taking place this afternoon, but can you believe it? Not one of them is over jumps! The action comes from Chester, Lingfield, Newcastle, Newmarket, Salisbury and York. The big race of the day is the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes from Ascot at 3.35pm. It is a Group One contest over 1m4f with over £500,000 in prize money. The John Gosden trained filly Enable has been all the rage in the markets in the lead-up to the race and the English and Irish Oaks heroine looks to be the one they all have to beat in receipt of her age and sex allowance. Frankie Dettori is in the saddle and it would be great to seem him back with a big winner following persistent niggles with his injured shoulder.
- Friday, 28 July 2017 07:06
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Today there are six meetings, flat cards at Ascot, Thirsk, York, Newmarket and Chepstow plus a jumps card at Uttoxeter. Racing has made the front pages of the National newspapers again for all the wrong reasons! It is hard to believe that you can run the wrong horse in a race these days but that is what happened at Yarmouth yesterday. A 50/1 chance won the opening two year old race but the horse that took part was actually a three year old! How can the trainer or stable person not know the difference between the two horses?! I don't believe there was any skulduggery going on but I do find it rather unbelievable. I guarantee that MCP nor David would ever get two horses mixed up before saddling them. MCP said even I wouldn't do that! One bookmaker paid out £400 on the wrong 50/1 winner but I don't know why it took so long for the the stewards to announce the mistake? The race should have been void.
- Thursday, 27 July 2017 07:12
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat action from Sandown, Yarmouth, Doncaster and Newbury as well as a jumps card from Worcester. David has a runner today as Chic Theatre takes in the two mile handicap hurdle at 5.05pm. He was a winner at Market Rasen from this mark in December but has disappointed of late, including on this track last time out. He is more than capable of running well if putting his best foot forward under Tom Scudamore. Tom and David Noonan have both picked up some outside rides on the rest of the card.
- Wednesday, 26 July 2017 07:24
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
There are five meetings taking place this afternoon, once again all on the level with the action coming from Bath, Lingfield, Catterick, Sandown and Leicester. It sounds obvious, but one of the most important rules for me when backing horses is making sure that the trainer and jockey are in good form. Jockey Seamus Cronin has won on five of his last six mounts - it doesn't get an awful lot better than that!
- Tuesday, 25 July 2017 07:28
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
I see that details of next season's fixture list have been unveiled and there are going to be more meetings than ever before as well as record prize money levels, with a focus on increasing the prize money in the lower grade races. It is about time something was done to address this so well done to the governing body for that, although whether it is enough only time will tell. I see they have taken a little heed of what has been said about the end of the season coming too hot on the heels of the old with a week long break after the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown now on the cards. Do you remember years ago when they had over a month off and the new season started at Newton Abbot? Everyone came back refreshed and raring to go and the Palace Hotel in Torquay was full up. Sadly that hotel closed last month, how times change (and not always for the better).
- Monday, 24 July 2017 07:25
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with flat action from Ayr, Windsor and Beverley, while if you are a fan of the jumps you are going to have to travel a long way north as the only National Hunt fixture is from Cartmel. There are no runners from the Pond House team today. There was a thrilling finish to the Group 2 contest at Maisons-Laffitte yesterday with the first three home all British trained. There was a steward's inquiry regarding the fourth home who was trained in France - I was surprised they did not kick the first three out...they seem to have some funny rules over there and they often seem to favour the home-trained runners!
- Sunday, 23 July 2017 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with a flat card from Redcar, while there are two jumps fixtures from Newton Abbot and Stratford. Stable jockey Tom Scudamore has picked up a few outside rides at Stratford and a couple of them look to have decent chances. I see that Simon Holt has agreed with me that there needs to be shorter gaps between races. I know it would put a strain on trainers and stable staff but I am sure it is possible - I know, I have saddled up thousands of runners in my time. As things stand, the whole process seemingly takes too long for the younger generation who seem to like a 'quick fix'.
