High_Ville_Exeter
     High Ville - 1st Winner of the Season 

There were lots of non runners at Exeter last night, including Prime Location and Problema Tic as the ground was pretty quick but it was great for David to get his first winner of the season courtesy of High Ville.  Our gelding appreciated the quicker ground and settled a bit better than he had been of late under a nice front running ride by Conor O'Farrell.  Now he has got his head in front we hope he will be able to again while the ground stays a bit better.  Barney Cool finished fourth at Worcester and looked a little bit one paced. He may need a longer trip like his the rest of his family appear to have needed.

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Problema_Tic__El_Lobo
         Problema Tic (near-side)

The stable has runners at both Exeter and Worcester this evening and David is looking for his first winner of the season.  Today there are five meetings, three on the flat at Bath, Lingfield and Yarmouth plus the jumps cards that I have mentioned.  El Lobo, Barney Cool and Military Precision run at Worcetser and Tom Scu goes there to ride all three.  Problema Tic fell last time out in the Scottish National and he just needs a bit of luck in running.  He drops down in grade this afternoon and has Kieron Edgar in the saddle who takes a vaulable seven pounds off his back.  With a nice clear round he could hopefully be in the shake up.  The same could be said of our other runner in the race, Palace Jester.  He ran a nice race at Taunton last time and but for being hampered would have finished even closer.  Conor O'Farrell rides.  Prime Location also runs at Exeter in the handicap hurdle and is looking to bounce back to form after a slightly disappointing run at Newbury last time.  High Ville is our fourth runner of the night.  He has some fair bumper form but has been a bit disappointing over hurdles so far.  He was fourth at the track last time but he does have to improve to win this with Conor O'Farrell on board.

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Henok_Towcester
  Henok Winning at Towcester last week

Today there are five meetings on, two jumps cards at Towcester and Kelso and flat cards at Wolverhampton, Windsor and Lingfield.  David has one runner at Towcester, Henok in the 4.30pm race.  He won on this track last week and carries a seven pound penalty which means he has to run with 12st5lb this afternoon.  He probably needs to brush up his jumping a little but Conor O'Farrell gave him a great ride the other day and a similar level of form should see him run well again.  Junior ran a cracker to finish second at Huntingdon yesterday.  He carried top weight and had to give 16 pounds to the winner Triolo D'Alene.  The trouble is the handicapper will probably put him up another pound or two for this good run and he is already rated 156 so life is not going to be easy.  It was just so nice to see him back to form after a couple of disappoing efforts, mind you these were in some top class races!  Midnight Tuesday ran okay at Ludlow with Kieron Edgar on board.  This was a step up on his previous couple of runs and he does appreciate the quicker ground.

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junior_2012_press_day_web
                      Junior

Today see's the start of the new jumps season.  It was only a few hours ago that the old one finished!  There are three jumps cards at Huntingdon, Ludlow and Wetherby and David has one runner at Ludlow, Midnight Tuesday and one runner at Huntingdon, Junior.  Midnight Tuesday has Kieron Edgar on board and runs in the 4.20pm race.  The better ground could help him but he needs to bounce back to form.  Junior runs in the 5.50pm race at Huntingdon with Conor O'Farrell in the saddle and he has to give over a stone to all of his rivals.  Ideally he may prefer the ground a bit softer but if returning to form he would have a big chance.

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E_Street_Boy_PLumpton
E Street Boy at Plumpton -
Winner 104 of the Season

Today is the last day of the jumps season at Sandown which is a mixed flat and jumps card and there also is a jumps card at Market Rasen.  There are four flat meetings at Ripon, Haydock, Doncaster and Leicester.  The stable has three runners at Sandown, Home Run, Garynella and Dan Breen.  They look really competitive races and we could be up against it.  E Street Boy won under Kieron Edgar yesterday at Plumpton.  He looked in trouble turning into the straight but ran on really well and look to win with a bit in hand.  He likes this quicker ground and he could return to fences at some point where is rating is a bit lower.  

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e_street_boy_wincanton_steve_kemp
E Street Boy in action at Wincanton
(Photo Steve Kemp)

Today there are five meetings, two on the flat at Sandown and Doncaster and also three jumps cards at Perth, Chepstow and Plumpton.  It is also the fourth day of the Punchestown Festival.  David has two runners at Plumpton, Smooth Classic and E Street Boy.  Kieron Edgar rides both of these runners and E Street Boy is looking to follow up his win at Wincanton last time out.  Smooth Classic did not run too badly at Ffos Las last time and the drier ground should suit him better this evening.  Weekend Millioanir is David's only runner at Chepstow in the 6.25pm race.  Conor O'Farrell rides and although he has gone up nine pounds for his win at Taunton last time out there could be more to come on only his second try over three miles.  Remember Nick Scholfied deputised on him last time out after Tom Bellamy unfortunately broke his leg at Taunton that day.  On that note I hear Tom's recovery is going well so far, he was doing some physio in the swimming pool yesterday although it will be a fair while yet before he is back in action on a horse!  It all looks fairly competitive races this evening but our horses all look to have fair chances.

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The_Liquidator_web
  The Liquidator (after winning at Exeter)

The Liquidator was a fantastic winner of the Champion Bumper (Grade 1) at Punchestown last night for owner Roger Brookhouse.  Our gelding got a positive ride from Jane Mangan, a jockey who is certainly making a name for herself!  She was always fairly handy and asserted down the home straight.  It was a good prize of 52,000 Euros to the winner and our five year old looks like he could be a very useful novice hurdler next season.  Bought from Cheltenham sales earlier in season by his owner, he is the daughter of the mare Alikat who we used to train at Pond House.  He had shown good form since we had him, finishing runner up at the Cheltenham Bumper in November, he than won one at Exeter before finishing fourth at the Festival last month.  Obviously the withdrawal of the favourite Briar Hill helped but it was still a top class race and we are delighted with The Liquidator's performance.  It is brilliant for his owner Roger Brookhouse who is a big supporter of our yard and of racing in general.  We had a few drinks to celebrate last night and the horse is on his way home from Ireland for his summer holiday's this morning.

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