- Thursday, 30 January 2014 08:03
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Vieux Lion Rouge
I am pleased to report that racing goes ahead at Wincanton this afternoon. The planned morning inspection was cancelled after no rain overnight and temperatures did not drop below freezing. That is good news for the yard as David has seven runners at the track. There are also two all-weather meetings taking place today at Kempton and Southwell. Vieux Lion Rouge is the first runner of the day and he is looking to follow up his debut hurdling success at the track last time out. He is now four from five career starts and made a very pleasing debut last time. Three of his wins have come on heavy going so he will handle conditions today. He will go off the short priced favourite but he does look the form horse of the race. There is a valuable handicap hurdle race on the card and David has three horses in the race. Bygones Soveriegn (Tom Bellamy), Ainsi Fideles (Tom Scu) and Martial Law (Conor O'Farrell) all look to have some sort of chance so it will be interesting to see who comes home in front out of the trio! Bygones Sovereign has been in excellent form of late, having won at Ascot on his penultimate start and then running well in the Pertemps race at Warwick last time. Ainsi Fideles would surely have won last time out at Sedgefield if he had not have fallen at the second last and is the choise of Tom Scu. Martial Law is returning from a long absence but is in good form at home and gets in the race with a light weight.
- Wednesday, 29 January 2014 08:01
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
With the abandonment of Leicester, Ludlow and Newcastle, the only meeting that has survived today is the all-weather flat fixture at Kempton...I always said what a good idea these all-weather tracks were! Everywhere else is washed out and that was almost the case at Taunton yesterday afternoon. The ground was absolutely bottomless - a couple of the races were slower than the standard time by over a minute! Of our runners, I thought that Thomas Junior ran creditably to finish third behind odds-on favourite Milo Man and he should now be eligible for handicaps, while Western Diva put up a good first effort for the yard by finishing runner-up in the closing bumper. It is difficult to know what to make of the form as they should not come up against such testing conditions again any time soon.
- Tuesday, 28 January 2014 08:26
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
The good news is that after an early morning precautionary inspection, our local card at Taunton has been given the go ahead to race. That means we have two cards to look forward to with Taunton hosting a decent jumps fixture, while there is action on the all-weather at Southwell. The stable has four runners at Taunton this afternoon; Thomas Junior, Decoy, Makadamia and Western Diva. I though that Makadamia (pictured above) looked interesting if she can reproduce her debut second at Warwick in a seventeen runner bumper - that form looks solid and partner Sam Waley-Cohen takes a handy 5lbs off her back.
- Monday, 27 January 2014 08:15
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
First things first and it's a big day around the stable today as it marks my 67th birthday! I know, I can barely believe how good I am looking on it either - that's what a lifetime of looking after yourself, healthy eating and abstaining from alcohol does for you...not! We had a little get together in Brixham last week and Martin, Carol, David and Leanne came down to help me celebrate. We had a fantastic evening and as you can see, I had a lovely cake. The picture shows me laughing at one of my own jokes as usual...well, someone has to! What do I want for my birthday?...well, you are more than welcome to send cheques courtesy of Pond House but other than that, just to see West Ham stay in the Premiership, it's not asking the world is it?!
- Sunday, 26 January 2014 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
With the abandonment of Fontwell this afternoon there is only one jump meeting remaining on these shores at Sedgefield. Meanwhile there is an excellent card at Leopardstown - the good news is that both meetings are live on ATR. The stable has two runners at Sedgefield - Great Choice in the 1.10pm race and Consigliere in the 2.45pm. Consigliere (pictured above) has been a wonderful servant down the years although our eleven year old has been a victim of his own consistency - he looks as though he could do with a little help from the hanidcapper. Even so, this soft/heavy ground will be right up his street and young Kieron Edgar takes a handy 7lbs off his back. There are only five runners and I am sure he will run his race once again. Our other runner Great Choice participates in what looks like a decent event for the track. He was narrowly beaten first time up at Uttoxeter and Tom Scudamore will be hoping he can go one better.
- Saturday, 25 January 2014 08:23
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There is some cracking action this afternoon with two jumps meetings at Cheltenham and Doncaster as well as an all-weather flat card at Lingfield. It's Trials Day at Cheltenham and there is a fantastic card to look forward to, as you would expect with over £300,000 in prize money up for grabs. The stable has two runners at the meeting - exciting and unbeaten novice hurdler Red Sherlock (pictured above) as well as Waterunder. Meanwhile over at Doncaster, where there is over £200,000 available in prize money we have two runners in Centasia and Star Of Salford. Tom Scudamore is riding at Doncaster before rushing down to Cheltenham for the mounts aboard Red Sherlock and The Giant Bolster - it's certainly going to be a busy day for him.
- Friday, 24 January 2014 08:39
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
With Huntingdon's jump meeting passing an early morning inspection, there are four fixtures to look forward to this afternoon. There is another National Hunt meeting at Doncaster as well as two all-weather flat cards at Lingfield and Wolverhampton. The stable has no runners today.
I thought that Franklin Roosevelt performed creditably to finish fourth in the staying handicap chase at Warwick yesterday afternoon. He had to carry top weight of 11-12 around in really testing conditions - it seems to me that the heavy ground has found out plenty of horses burdened with big weights lately.
