- Thursday, 03 April 2014 07:14
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
3 runners in the Grand National - The Package (T Scudamore), Our Father (D O'Regan) and Swing Bill (C O'Farrell)
It's day one of the Crabbies Grand National meeting at Aintree and I can't wait! I will be en-route for Liverpool shortly and we will be staying with old friend Gino for the duration of the meeting. The Aintree fixture is always like a carnival atmosphere compared to Cheltenham and the Scousers are bound to be in good form (especially with their football team playing so well too). I wonder if the usual fella will be selling flip flops for all the girls to wear when their stilts, sorry I mean high heels get too uncomfortable? He must make an absolute fortune! My favourite day is always Ladies' day (tomorrow) - it is worth the entry fee just to see the outfits they have nearly got on!
- Wednesday, 02 April 2014 07:08
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It was a good day for the stable yesterday with two winners from two runners at Newton Abbot's first meeting of 2014. Sail By The Sea won the maiden hurdle with any amount in hand. In fact he was a 25 length winner under Tom Scudamore - Sail By The Sea (pictured above) was a good ground winning Irish pointer over three miles so it bodes well that he was able to score so convincingly over 2m1f on a tight track like this. David said that he could be sending a few over to Punchestown at the end of the month and this could be one of them! David, Tom and owner Roger Brookhouse all doubled up when Volt Face won the National Hunt novices' hurdle. Tom said that the horse is becoming more settled and that the hood probably helped - he should handle quicker ground too and both he and Sail By The Sea look like two nice prospects.
- Tuesday, 01 April 2014 07:20
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Today we have three meetings to look forward to with two on the flat at Kempton and Southwell and a jumps card at Newton Abbot. It's Newton Abbot's first meeting of the year and it is good to see racing back at the Devon track - the stable has two runners, Sail By The Sea and Volt Face. Sail By The Sea (pictured above, left) is having his first start for 409 days but this previous Irish point-to-point winner had shown good form when last seen in action when finishing runner-up in a novices' hurdle - form that has since been franked by the winner. He should go well in the maiden hurdle under Tom Scudamore.
- Monday, 31 March 2014 07:07
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
David looks to have another nice young horse on his hands in the shape of Molo (pictured above). The four year old filly won the bumper at Uttoxeter on Saturday in very good style and she looks like another exciting prospect for the yard. There certainly seems to be a very nice crop of emerging young talent at Pond House and that is great to see. Meanwhile, at Ascot and the other end of the age scale, Junior finished sixth in the veterans' chase. He has been a cracking horse down the years winning at Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham Festival and has been paying the price with the handicapper ever since - he looks as though he could still do with a little bit of assistance from the assessor.
- Sunday, 30 March 2014 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It is a quieter day today with just a couple of meetings taking place although they are good quality cards for a Sunday with action on the flat at Doncaster (day two of their Lincoln meeting) and over the sticks at Ascot. The stable has two runners at Ascot, Junior and Bygones Sovereign. Junior takes in a veteran's chase which looks like a good idea to me - being a former Royal Ascot and Cheltenham Festival winner means that he is only slowly coming down the weights despite advancing years - he still has plenty of weight to carry here, but at least he gets to compete against his own sort of age group.
- Saturday, 29 March 2014 08:02
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It's the first day of the flat season on turf this afternoon and that means it is Lincoln day at Doncaster. With the rain softened ground, conditions could certainly find out one or two of the runners, so my advice is make sure any selection that you back will handle a bit of cut. Meanwhile there is also action on the all-weather at Kempton, while for National Hunt fanatics we can look forward to Stratford and Uttoxeter. The stable has five runners this afternoon - four at Uttoxeter (Shotavodka, Barton Stacey, Leader Of The Gang and newcomer Molo), while at Stratford we are represented by Red Seventy. I thought that Shotavodka (pictured above) looked particularly interesting back on a left-handed course - he was the best of these over hurdles and prior to his success at Huntingdon, he had given subsequent Cheltenham Festival winner Holywell a run for his money at Catterick. Tom Scu is in the saddle.
- Friday, 28 March 2014 08:01
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Happy Birthday to Luke Harvey
Today we have four meetings, two over the sticks at Newcastle and Wetherby and two flat cards at Lingfield and Wolverhampton. David does not have any runners. Yet again another programming blunder I think! Surely both Newcastle and Wetherby are northern tracks so if you are a jumps fan down south today, bad luck! There is a horse running today call Watt Broderick at Wetherby and officially he is 15 pounds well in, ahead of the handicapper. He did run only four days ago at Taunton where he was beaten but he did not get the best of rides that day. He should gain compensation this afternoon or otherwise the owner might as well retire the five year old as the handicapper must have got the rating so wrong! Newcastle watered their track in the week and then had quite a bit of rain yesterday afternoon and now the ground is described as soft with heavy patches. Why don't they just lave the ground alone, what is wrong with good or even quicker ground?!
