- Tuesday, 26 February 2013 08:03
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with two of them over the sticks at Leicester and Catterick and an all-weather flat meeting at Lingfield. The stable has runners at Leicester of which Quinte du Chatelet looks quite interesting. His recent form hasn't been great but he is on a feasible mark based on some of his old hurdle form and Tom Bellamy claims a handy 7lbs off his back, while Franklin Roosevelt (pictured above) bids to follow-up his Southwell success of last week.
- Monday, 25 February 2013 08:04
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It was another fine weekend for the yard with a couple of winners yesterday courtesy of Shoegazer at Fontwell and Volt Face at Towcester. Shoegazer won the Josh Gifford Cup under Noel Fehily, taking our eight year old's tally over fences to five wins from ten starts - he gave favourite Poungach a 3 1/4 length beating from level weights, so it was clearly a good performance - I am sure that owner Wayne Clifford will keep the trophy very well polished. Meanwhile, over at Towcester the yard enjoyed yet another bumper winner as Volt Face (pictured above) made a winning racecourse debut under Tom Scudamore - it is always difficult to know what the form equates to, especially in these newcomers races but he could do no more than win by ten lengths and will have learned plenty for the experience.
- Sunday, 24 February 2013 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
This afternoon there are just two meetings taking place over the sticks at Fontwell and Towcester and the stable has runners at both meetings. The admirably consistent Shoegazer (pictured above winning a Listed contest earlier in the season at Newton Abbot) takes his chance in the novices' chase for the Josh Gifford Cup at Fontwell at 2.40pm and while there are only five runners, it looks like a competitive little race for the £20,000 prize money on offer. Josh was a great trainer with a love of cricket and I will always remember how he used to take a cricket team over to the Isle of Wight each year and stay at the Atherfield Bay holiday camp. I used to play table tennis exhibitions at Atherfield Bay, but to give you some idea of how long ago I am talking, the site is no longer there. The managing director now runs Potters in Norfolk - they hold the Indoor British Bowls Championships at the holiday village...it is well worth a visit.
- Saturday, 23 February 2013 09:05
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
What a great day for the stable yesterday afternoon with four winners moving David back up to third place in the trainers' title. Shotavodka (A P McCoy) and Doctor Harper (T J Murphy) were our winners at Sandown, while Broadway Buffalo (pictured above) and Ballynagour scored at Warwick. Feature race winner Ballynagour was one of the easiest winners I think I have ever seen and I would imagine he will be facing a hike in the weights for this. David has said that he will probably now go for one of the handicap chases at next month's Cheltenham Festival.
- Friday, 22 February 2013 08:07
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There is some good news to start the day as both jumps meetings at Sandown and Warwick have passed their early morning inspections and racing goes ahead. The stable has runners at both meetings - at Sandown, bumper winner Doctor Harper (pictured above) takes in a very competitive looking bumper so the result should be informative, while at Warwick unbeaten Broadway Buffalo makes his second start over hurdles - he looks very promising. Meanwhile there are also two all-weather cards taking place at Lingfield and Wolverhampton.
- Thursday, 21 February 2013 09:08
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Well, the good news is that both Huntingdon and Sedgefield have passed inspections although we are still waiting on Ayr where they will be taking a look at 11.30am to see if racing goes ahead. Fingers crossed that the Scottish track gets the green light as The Tracey Shuffle is forecast favourite for the handicap hurdle under Tom Scudamore, meanwhile Sir Frank (pictured above, nearside) runs for the stable at Huntingdon and will be partnered by Kieron Edgar.
- Wednesday, 20 February 2013 08:09
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It was another good day for the stable yesterday with an across-the-card double at Taunton and Wetherby courtesy of Edmund Kean and No Secrets. Edmund Kean was winning his second race in four days and while this probably wasn't as good a race as he won last week, when you consider the sharp track and shorter trip wouldn't have suited as well this was a good effort under Conor O'Farrell. He is clearly progressing at a rate of knots and is yet another promising youngster for the yard. Up at Wetherby Tom Scudamore steered No Secrets (pictured above) to victory in their feature handicap chase. He jumped beautifully under a well-judged front-running ride and he repelled all challengers in the straight.
