- Sunday, 16 February 2014 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
With the abandonment of Ffos Las earlier in the week we are left with a jumps card at Market Rasen and a 'Jumpers Bumper' meeting at Kempton on the all-weather. The meeting at Kempton gives the jump jockeys a chance to pretend they are flat jockeys! The stable has one runner at the replacement meeting, The Bailiff who makes his racecourse debut in the Standard Open National Hunt flat race at 1.30pm. Tom Scudamore takes the ride.
- Saturday, 15 February 2014 08:46
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Doctor Harper was a good winner at Fakenham yesterday afternoon, winning with any amount in hand under Tom Scudamore. Despite carrying a penalty for his two previous hurdles successes Tom gave him a good, positive front-running ride on ground that looked nearly unraceable. He was the only one that came back to the padddock with his colours still nice and clean which is always good for the post-race pictures! Funny enough, A P McCoy was presented with a garden bench to commemorate his 4000th winner...I can't imagine AP sitting around in his garden!
- Friday, 14 February 2014 08:08
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
With the ridiculous amount of rainfall it is hardly surprising that Sandown abandoned their jumps card for today earlier in the week, even so there is still action from three other venues to bring you. There is a National Hunt fixture at Fakenham and two all-weather flat meetings at Lingfield and Wolverhampton and the stable has one runner, Doctor Harper in the 3.20pm at Fakenham. He carries a large penalty for his successes at Exeter earlier in the season and on that form he should take plenty of beating under Tom Scudamore although he does have a disappointing run at Cheltenham last time to bounce back from. It is a long way for Scu to go for just one ride - let's hope that it's a winning one!
- Thursday, 13 February 2014 08:20
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Surprisingly both Kelso and Leicester host jump cards this afternoon and go ahead without a problem, while over on the all-weather there is a flat card at Kempton. It is quite an interesting card up at Kelso with former Gold Cup winner Long Run competing in the 3.55pm race - according to official figure he has 17lbs in hand of second favourite Knockara Beau and 36lbs in hand of the third favourite so it looks like a penalty kick for the 4/11 shot. Even so, I have seen plenty of missed penalties lately and Knockara Beau caused a bigger shock last time out when wining the Cleeve Hurdle (with Big Buck's back in third). It is nice for Kelso racegoers to see some quality horses in action.
- Wednesday, 12 February 2014 08:17
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Well, it looked like an interesting afternoon at the famous Abbey Road recording studios in London yesterday for the unveiling of the 2014 Grand National weights. David looks to be well represented with six entries (Junior, Our Father, The Package (pictured above), Goulanes, Swing Bill and Standing Ovation) although it looks as if a couple of them will need a few to come out before they will get a run. The race now looks more like a very good staying handicap chase than a Grand National with high class horses Tidal Bay and Long Run heading the weights at 11-10 and 11-9 respectively. With that calibre of horse at the head of the weights there will be quite a few good handicappers that will not even get a run. Although there is still a long way to go, at this stage my pick of the weights would be Shakalakaboomboom at 40/1, Tidal Bay at 25/1 and Our Father from Pond House at 40/1.
- Tuesday, 11 February 2014 08:38
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
It's a big day for racing with the weights for the Grand National announced in London today. Much as expected Tidal Bay heads the weights at this stage for the second successive year. Senior handicapper Phil Smith has given the thirteen year old a real chance by allotting him a mark 7lbs below his current official rating of 168. Others to appear well treated at the weights include: Long Run (3lbs ‘well-in’), Hunt Ball (4lbs), Triolo d’Alene (1lb), Rocky Creek (1lb) and Katenko (1lb).
David has a team of six entries of which Junior (10-8) is the only one who would get in at this stage with the maximum field size being forty runners. However, it is still very early days and you would expect Our Father (10-8, pictured above) and The Package (10-4) to get in, while Goulanes (10-1) and Swing Bill (10-1) need a few more to come out. Standing Ovation (9-10) at number 95 looks unlikely to get a run.
- Monday, 10 February 2014 08:10
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
The runners continued to perform well over the weekend and I thought that Dell' Arca ran a cracker to finish runner-up in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury on Saturday. He was giving the winner Splash Of Ginge 9lbs and posted another very good effort - he has now won a Greatwood and finished runner-up in a Betfair, two of the most competitive handicaps on the calendar. Swing Bowler also stayed on well in the closing stages and narrowly failed to get fourth on her first start since the Cheltenham Festival last year. While I was cheering on the stable runners, my wife was screaming home the winner - she had had the housekeeping on it because our cat is called Ginger...who needs a form book?!
