- Sunday, 22 September 2013 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It's great to be back with some jumping action today and we should now go through almost uninterrupted until the end of the season. There are three meetings this afternoon - one on the flat at Hamilton as well as two National Hunt fixtures at Plumpton and Uttoxeter. The stable has no less than five runners - four at Uttoxeter (Royal Peak, Bathwick Man, Sir Frank and Standing Ovation) and one at Plumpton (Purple 'N Gold). Purple 'N Gold continues to run well and prove himself a shrewd claim - he was an unlucky loser on the level at Sandown last time and looks to have leading claims reverting to hurdles under Tom Scudamore. Royal Peak (pictured above) seems to have improved with the step-up in trip, while Bathwick Man has gone close the last twice and is another with sound prospects.
- Saturday, 21 September 2013 07:12
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It's a busy day on the level with five flat cards to look forward to from Ayr, Newmarket, Newbury, Catterick and Wolverhampton. There is great prize money up for grabs at Ayr for their Gold Cup meeting. Indeed, there is over £400,000 up for grabs. The big race itself has attracted no fewer than 27 runners and the bookies make it 11/1 the field - that gives you some idea of how competitive the race is. I have a feeling that the ground is going to catch a lot of these runners out. The Silver Cup (for those that didn't make the cut for the feature race) has also attracted 27 runners - for those people having a punt, you might be better off saving your money and having a go at tonight's National Lottery instead!
- Friday, 20 September 2013 07:05
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
This afternoon there are four flat cards to look forward to at Ayr, Newbury, Newcastle and Wolverhampton. The question that comes to mind is how on earth have Newcastle managed to get away with staging an eight race card for only £29,000 in prize money? Moreover, why are owners supporting the meeting? They have fields of sixteen and seventeen runners even though the most valuable race of the day is worth less than £3,000 to the winner. As far as I can tell, if the tracks think they can get away with putting on poor prize money, they will.
- Thursday, 19 September 2013 07:09
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
This afternoon there are four flat meetings at Ayr, Yarmouth, Pontefract and Kempton while over in Ireland there is another mixed card from Listowel. There was a bit of a shock result in yesterday's feature Kerry National as White Star Line bolted up at odds of 16/1...he should have been that price just to get a run considering he was the third reserve for the race in the morning - it must have been a 'titanic' result for the bookies! I see that A P McCoy has just one ride at Listowel this afternoon - let's see if the theory about jockeys with one ride at a meeting works! A P is going to another country for his one ride so it should be a certainty?!
- Wednesday, 18 September 2013 07:15
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It is an all flat racing day in England with meetings at Yarmouth, Sandown, Beverley and Kempton so if you like your jumping you are out of luck...unless of course you can get coverage from the meeting at Listowel in Ireland this afternoon which hosts the Kerry National. As always it has attracted a competitive field which isn't surprising considering the good prize money on offer. J P McManus has a strong hand with no fewer than six of the eighteen runners, while Conor O'Farrell travels over for the ride aboard Romanesco for Gordon Elliott.
- Tuesday, 17 September 2013 07:37
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
The headlines in the racing papers today are unsurprisingly dominated by the memorial service yesterday of legendary trainer Sir Henry Cecil. MCP was one of more than a thousand people who travelled to Ely Cathedral to join in the celebration of his life. I was particularly amused to read of Lord Teddy Grimthorpe's recollections of the great man, 'millions loved him without ever having the great fortune of meeting him'. I was one of the lucky ones that did get to meet Henry - I stayed for a weekend at Warren Place and it was a weekend I will never forget.
- Monday, 16 September 2013 07:08
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
This afternoon we have three flat meetings to look forward to at Musselburgh, Brighton and Wolverhampton - the prize money for those three cards combined comes to £96,000, while over in Ireland their mixed card at Listowel offers £107,000! I must be missing something, a bit like the prize money in this country! Our only runner of the day yesterday at Bath, Beyond proved disappointing so it is back to the drawing board with him. With no jumps fixtures taking place today, the stable does not have any runners.
