- Friday, 26 September 2014 06:45
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
As I write this the lorry is on it's way home with our Perth raiding party and they did not dissapoint. We already know that Sinndar's Man was successful on Thursday, but Ainsi Fideles (pictured above) extended his unbeaten run over fences to five with a thrilling victory in the novices' chase. It was very much expected to be a match between our four year old and last season's Betfair Hurdle winner Splash Of Ginge on his chasing debut. That did not materialise however as the Irish challenger Howwoulduno proved the principal danger, but despite being headed two out our fellow battled back well to earn the decision on the nod. It will be fascinating to see what the handicapper does with the first two home - Ainsi Fideles already has a rating of 148, while the second went into the race on 128 and was giving 8lbs to our runner making him theoretically 28lbs 'wrong', The trainer of the second may rue not running in a handicap instead!
- Thursday, 25 September 2014 06:47
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It is a long way up to Perth, but the journey was made worthwhile yesterday when our only runner of the day, Sinndar's Man (pictured above( was the ready winner of the juvenile hurdle. Our three year old only had to be pushed out to score by an emphatic eight lengths. He jumped pretty well in the main and had clearly progressed from his first outing - he looks like he could follow-up and rates a decent juvenile for this time of year. Owned by stable sponsors Wayne and Sarah Clifford, it is very nice to get another winner on the board for them.
- Wednesday, 24 September 2014 06:41
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with three flat cards from Redcar, Kempton and Goodwood. The jumping action comes from Peth and the stable has one runner at the Scottish track; Sinndar's Man (pictured above) who takes in the juvenile hurdle at 4.45pm. Our three year old ran a promising race to finish runner-up 25 days ago on his racecourse debut and he is fully entitled to have improved for that experience and he should run well under Tom Scudamore. Even so, It looks like quite a hot race for this time of year and it will take a decent one to win it. We have one more runner at the two day fixture; exciting and unbeaten chaser Ainsi Fideles takes in the novices' contest tomorrow and it looks to be an exciting race with Tote Gold Trophy Hurdle winner Splash Of Ginge making his chase debut.
- Tuesday, 23 September 2014 06:35
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I'm afraid it is another blank day for jump racing fans although there are four meetings taking place this afternoon from Beverley, Nottingham, Lingfield and Newcastle. Typically though, the meeting with the most prize money on offer today takes place over the sticks at Ballinrobe! Despite there being no runners from the stable, the horses have to be kept ticking over and above is a nice picture of the string on the gallops during first lot this morning.
It came as a bit of a surprise that champion miler Kingman was retired yesterday. It is a real shame that we will not get to see him on Champions' Day at Ascot and wouldn't he have been some representative for Europe in the Breeders' Cup? To my mind he is without a shadow of a doubt the best three year old of his generation and had we not been lucky enough to witness the imperious Frankel in the last few years, we would have been waxing lyrical about Kingman. Hopefully he will be able to make his mark at stud - what a stallion line-up at Banstead Manor...Frankel and Kingman!
- Monday, 22 September 2014 06:43
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I do not frequent the races anywhere near as often as I used to but it was great to catch up with a lot of old friends yesterday at Plumpton. We had a good winner in Famousandfearless who was the winner of the novices' handicap chase. Although owned by the Bravo Partnership he carried the colours of the late and much missed David Johnson of which DJ was a member. He gave 8lbs and a beating to Jewellery which I think was quite a decent performance...and just to clarify, the horse was not named after Luke Harvey! Meanwhile Purple 'N Gold ran another good race to finish a close third in the handicap hurdle - the trouble is that he hardly ever runs a bad race and will likely face another couple of pounds rise in the weights for this.
- Sunday, 21 September 2014 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with one flat card from Hamilton and two jumps meetings from Plumpton and Uttoxeter. I will be making the trip to Plumpton with David where the stable has five runners; Bathwick Street, Street Entertainer, Purple 'N Gold, Massannie and Famousandfearless. I have always loved the Sussex track and I spent many happy days enjoying the seafood from Barry Cope's fish bar. I used to have one of his curries, while Martin would fill up on smoked salmon and prawns. I think that the main reason we used to go there! Our five runners all seem to hold decent chances so let's hope that it is a productive day.
- Saturday, 20 September 2014 07:09
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It was a good day for the yard yesterday as we recorded a double at Newton Abbot with our two runners, while our pair at Worcestser also performed creditably to finish close seconds...unfortunately a certain A P McCoy was aboard the winner on both occasions! I phoned the winning owner of Party Girls (pictured above) in Hong Kong and I don't think he believed me when I told him that she had won! This did represent a drop in class to selling company and she benefitted from first time headgeat and a positive ride from Michael Heard whose 10lbs claim reduced her weight to only 9-4. Meanwhile, Hawhill also bounced back to form under a front-running ride from Kieron Edgar and looks as though he could follow-up - remember he does seem to like heavy ground.
