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         Palace Jester (near-side)

Today there are five meetings, two on the flat at Beverley and Chepstow and three jumps cards at Wincanton, Sedgefield and Southwell.  David runs Palace Jester in the 3.20pm at Wincanton.  On old form Palace Jester is well handicapped but he needs to improve on recent runs to figure in quite a competitive little race.  We are due quite a lot of rain in the west country this afternoon so keep an eye on what is happening if you are having a bet on the racing this afternoon as the going may change!  They are due up to an inch of rain at Wincanton later so it is nice weather for ducks and there could be a few non runners to look out for as well.  At Towcester yesterday Weather Babe was a bit disappointing and did not jump as well as she can while the Bumper horse, Knight of Noir ran a cracker.  He finished second to the Alan King trained Ulzanas Raid but our runner is from a staying family and will improve for a step up in distance.  He kept running all the way to the line and we were very pleased with his Pond House debut run and he is a chaser to look forward to in the future.

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            Franklin Roosevelt

David has a winner at Plumpton yesterday courtesy of Franklin Roosevelt and Tom Scu.  He won in game fashion getting up to win by a neck close home.  That made it three wins from his last four starts an he has been a revelation since the blinkers were fitted.  Remember he deposited AP on the first fence at Leicester only a few runs back, that seems like a distant memory now!  He is a thorough stayer who loves the quicker ground and he should continue to give us lots of fun over the summer.  E Street Boy ran a bit of a disappointing race to finish 8th although his rating of 120 does look plenty high enough.  On Saturday Street Entertainer was running a good race in the Swinton hurdle before a blunder at the second last cost him all chance and Pooole Master ran a much better race to finish fourth in the chase.

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       E Street Boy on the Gallops

I think it is amazing that the flat season is supposed to be fully underway while it is the quieter time for the jumping yards and yet today there are three race meetings and they are all jumping!  They are at Kempton, Plumpton and Worcester and all three tracks are giving the ground as good or good to firm.  David has two runners at Plumpton, Frankline Roosevelt and E Street Boy.  Our seven year old E Street Boy goes for a three timer having won his last two starts.  His latest win was at the track under Kieron Edgar and he is on board again this afternoon.  He takes a very valuable eight pounds off and it just shows how handy it is to have young lads in the yard who can ride well.  The weight concession is a big help and he should run well in this valuable handicap hurdle.  Franklin Roosevelt won two chases last season but he does have to bounce back from a bit of a disappointing effort at Wetherby last time.  Tom Scu rides.

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Street Entertainer on the Gallops (nearside)

David has three runners at Haydock this afternoon which is the mixed meeting of flat and jumps and has some valuable prize money on offer.  Weekend Millionair runs in the long distance hurdle, Street Entertainer in the Swinton hurdle and Poole Master in the novice handicap chase.  They all look big field tricky handicaps and our three runners are fairly big prices and all three could do with the rain staying away.  The good news is however that Haydock only had 3mm of rain overnight so lets just hope they don't get too much more this morning!  There is plenty of racing action to keep us entertained today, seven meetings including the mixed card at Haydock and a jumps card at Hexham.

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                 Hadden Frost

I just want to start by saying a special well done to Hadden Frost who rode a treble, his first over jumps yesterday.  He even did it at two metings, with a double at Newton Abbot and then a winner at Wincanton last night.  Hadden is a great lad who comes in a rides out every now and then.  Please excuse the picture from last year when he grew his hair for charity, he does have it all cut off now!  It is a busy day for racing with seven meetings on.  There are six on the flat and one jumps card at Market Rasen.  High Ville is looking to follow up his win at Exeter last week and runs with a seven pound penalty.  He is offically three pounds "well in" so it will be diasppointing if he does not run okay.  Conor O'Farrell keeps the ride after winning on him last time.  Yesterday's runner Darcey Diva ran a good race last night to finish second in the mares bumper at Southwell.  She was only beaten two lengths and only was headed just inside the final furlong.  She looks to be an interesting hurdler in the making.

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              Holiday Sunshine

David has four runners at Newton Abbot this afternoon, Hugo Drax, Milor De La Borie, Royal Rationale and Starlife.  We also have one runner at Southwell this evening, Darcey Diva.  There are five meetings on today, two on the flat at Chester and Goodwood plus three jumps cards at Newton Abbot, Wincanton and Southwell.  Royal Rationale has been disappointing recently and runs off a mark of 105 this afternoon.  He has previously won off a mark of 128 so in theory he is thrown in on old form but his last win was in 2009!  In fairness he has not run many times during that period but it would be just nice to see him run a bit better this afternoon.  A similar comment would apply to Starlife, Milor De La Borie and Hugo Drax so we will just have to see how they get on  Darcey Diva was a good second first time out Wincanton but then was disappointing at Ludlow on her next run.  She has had a little break but does need to bounce back to form.

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Mamlook - Winner of the Chester Cup in 2010

Today there are five meetings, a jumps card at Kelso, plus four flat cards at Chester, Southwell, Newcastle and Kempton.  David as one runner in the Chester Cup, Investissement.  It is a 2m21/2f trip but with 18 runners there are bound to be traffic problems on this tight left handed track.  I would not think there are any other tracks like Chester in the world!  Normally you get all of the footballers at this meeting posing, all with their own bottle of champagne!  Investissement had some good flat form for John Gosden in 2011 and has a mark of 97 and don't forget he did finish third in the Ebor.  He was slightly disappointing in three hurdle races this winter but he will prefer this better ground and with Willie Twiston-Davies in the saddle claiming a handy five pounds off we are hopeful that he will run okay.  David did win this race in 2010 with Mamlook and Richard Hughes riding that day.  It would be lovely to have a repeat performance this afternoon!

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