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Today we have five meetings taking place, four on the flat at Yarmouth, Catterick, Lingfield and Kempton as well as a jumps card from Worcester.  There were plenty of non-runners at Pontefract yesterday after the ground had changed from good/firm in places to soft after just the second race - I am not sure how much rain they had, although it must have been quite a downpour to change to those extremes in such a short period of time.  The weather (and therefore the ground) looks a lot more stable today, but as you know as soon as the going changes, so do the results.

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We were all extremely saddened to hear of the passing of the great Michael Scudamore Senior (pictured above right) at the age of 81 yesterday.  When Peter Scu was riding for Martin I would often speak with Michael - he was a true gentleman and I am told that he was a top hard jockey.  He won the Grand National aboard Oxo and the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Linwell.  Our thoughts and sincerest best wishes are with the entire Scudamore family.

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It was a good day for the stable yesterday with all three of our runners performing creditably at Market Rasen, including fences debutant Ainsi Fideles (pictured above) who bolted up in the beginners' chase, scoring by an impressive 23 lengths.  To my eye it looked as though he should little trouble following-up in this sphere.  Although this was his first success in Britain, he had hinted at a good deal of ability several times over hurdles and the switch to fences clearly bought that talent to the fore.  Meanwhile His Excellency ran well on his first attempt at 2m6f, finishing runner-up to The Nephew to whom he was trying to concede 15lbs.  Weather Babe also finished runner-up in the conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle so all in all it was a productive day for the yard.

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Today there are just two meetings taking place - one on the flat at Ayr, while there is a National Hunt meeting at Market Rasen.  The stable sends two runners to the jumps fixture; His Excellency who carries top weight in the 2m6f handicap chase and Weather Babe (picture above) who competes in the 2m5f handicap hurdle.  Former amateur jockey turned conditional Michael Heard takes the ride aboard the latter and claims a handy 8lbs allowance from our mare's back.  With 11-2 to carry I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her run a big race.  Meanwhile His Excellency has the talent to run well and it will be interesting to see how he gets on over this longer trip.

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His_Excellency_Cheltenham_web

Despite the lack of any jump racing It looks like a busy day on the fixture list with six meetings all taking place on the level.  They come from Sandown, Leicester, Nottingham, Beverley, Carlisle and Haydock - the centrepiece is at Sandown with the Group One Coral Eclipse the feature race, with two Listed contests to back it up.  Let's just hope that the ground is not too quick for the runners.  The Fugue was very impressive last time out at Royal Ascot and the John Gosden team continues in good form so she looks to be the one to beat.  There are no runners from the stable today, although we will have a couple at Market Rasen tomorrow including the talented chaser His Excellency (pictured above).

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Dell'arca came from Deauville Sales 2013

Today we have five meetings on the flat at Sandown, Doncaster, Warwick, Haydock and Beverley.  Away from racing, David had a good second day at Deauville sales yesterday and bought a few very nice horses including Alternatif for £180,000.  He should have won at Auteuil last time out and has been bought for Professor Caroline Tisdall.  The Professor certainly has some nices in our yard and it looks like it good be a very exciting season ahead.  David has been busy in both Ireland and France in the past couple of weeks and as aquired some lovely young horses.  David arrived back from France last night and our new horses are due to arrive back today so we are looking forard to meeting them.

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    Luke Harvey on a visit to Pond House

Massannie ran well and finished second at Worcester yesterday.  There was drama at the second last hurdle when AP on board Flemenson who was clear, fell when going like the winner.  It looked a bad fall for both the horse and AP who was also kicked by one of the horses coming behind but the champ being who he is got up and rode the next winner!  I did think Aalim had a good chance before the race and you do need a bit of luck in running.  He won at 13/2.  Massannie was on her best behaviour and ran another solid race off top weight and a mark of 130.  There has surely got to be more races in her and it looks like she will jump a fence as well.  She has returned safe and well this morning which is the main thing.  In the rest of the racing action yesterday a horse called Wakea won a maiden at Kempton by lengths.  I would keep an eye on this colt as he looks okay and is sure to win again.

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