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There are four meetings taking place this afternoon; three on the flat at Yarmouth, Brighton and Leicester as well as a jumps card at Worcester.  The stable is represented by one runner at Worcester; Franklin Roosevelt (pictured above) who takes part in the 2m7f handicap chase at 6.10pm.  He was a ready winner from a lower mark over hurdles at Newton Abbot last time, but reverts back to the larger obstacles this evening.  With Tom Scudamore currently on the sidelines this presents a good opportunity for young Kieron Edgar who has ridden him a couple of times before.  Kieron claims a handy 5lbs off his back in what looks like a competitive little race.

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It was a good weekend for the stable with two winners split between Saturday and Sunday, while we had another finish a head second.  Ainsi Fideles kept his good run of form going while managing to extend his unbeaten run over fences to three with success at Market Rasen on Saturday.  He was a ready winner under champion jockey A P McCoy who was benefitting from Tom Scu's enforced holiday.  Meanwhile on Sunday, Houston Dynimo (pictured above) made a winning debut for the yard by taking the 0-120 handicap hurdle at Southwell under McCoy.  He was a good buy after finishing down the field in a seller last time and once again demonstrates David's good eye for a bargain and his ability to improve a horse - he looks just the type to be found another suitable opportunity over the coming few weeks.  There was a great turnout at Southwell yesterday with 8,000 racegoers turning up - I'm not sure if it was to see AP or because it was ladies day, regardless it was a modern day record for the track.

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There are just two meetings taking place this afternoon but at least race planning have managed to ensure that there is one on the level and one over jumps.  The flat card comes from Pontefract, while the National Hunt action takes place at Southwell.  The stable has two runners at Southwell this afternoon; Azza and Houston Dynimo.  Azza bids to follow-up her chase debut success in the novices' chase - she looks to have a good chance with only 10-0 on her back and is a nice ride for Conor O'Farrell.  With £6,000 up for grabs, it is certainly a prize worth winning.  Meanwhile, our other runner Houston Dynimo makes his debut for the stable this afternoon and is the mount of perennial champion jockey A P McCoy.  Yesterday's Market Rasen runners have stayed up north overnight to avoid the worst of the traffic - the M5 near the yard has more closely resembled a car park of late.  I left home at 5.30am to get to the yard this morning and even at that time the roads were much busier than usual.

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It's a busy day on the racing front with no less than eight meetings taking place; six on the flat at Ripon, Chester, Doncaster, Lingfield, Newbury and Newmarket, while there are two fixtures over the sticks from Market Rasen and Perth.  The stable has two runners at Market Rasen; Ainsi Fideles who is unbeaten in two starts since switching to fences and Bathwick Man who was narrowly beaten at Newton Abbot on Wednesday.  David has been forced to run our nine year old again quickly as he will likely face a rise in the weights for his narrow defeat.  He has not won for quite a while, so if he doesn't put his head in front today he will certainly struggle from a revised rating.

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MCP, Jeff & Emma Pearce on the Gallops

Barton Stacey bounced back to form yesterday at Fontwell and won with a fair bit in hand, David's 24th winner of the season.  The owners were swinging in the trees, He is owned by the Pipe Monkees!  All of his wins have come on good to firm or good ground and hopefully he can win again over hurdles or fences.  That is his second win of the summer, last time it was over fences and it was under a good ride by AP who had two on the night and is getting ever closer to that remarkable 100 winner of the season already.  Northern Bay had his first run for the stable and looks like he will need softer ground in the future but he ran okay.

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     Barton Stacey on the Gallops

Today we have five meetings at Salisbury, Newmarket, Beverley, Chepstow and a jumps card at Fontwell.  David has two runners at Fontwell and Northern Bay runs in the first race on the card with Conor O'Farrell on board.  This is his first run in this country since being bought at the French summer sale.  He has only had two runs over hurdles in France and did finish second on his jumping debut.  It will be intertesting to see how he gets on on his British debut.  Barton Stacey is David's other runner at the track, and although he was little disappointing last time out he is a winner earlier this summer and AP takes over on board.  All three of his career wins have come on good ground and we will just have to see if AP can work his magic!

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      Kieron Edgar returns to action

Jump race action returns today at Newton Abbot and David has two runners at our local track.  Intermath runs in the first race of the day, a juvenile hurdle.  He has finished third in all of his three races over hurdles and last time finished a place behin Vosne Romanee at Market Rasen who also lines up in this race.  I expect him to run a big race however and he could well turn the form around with this one.  Bathwick Man runs in the final race of the day, a conditional jockeys handicapp hurdle and it is great to see Kieron Edgar back in action.  This is his first ride since breaking his leg back in March and he could not wish for a better horse to ride than Bathwick Man!  There are also four other meetings on today, all on the flat at Salisbury, Beverley, Kempton and Yarmouth.

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