Premier_Dane_Market_Rasen_web

There are five meetings this afternoon with four on the flat at Thirsk, Wolverhampton, Windsor and Kempton as well as a jumps card at Stratford.  The stable has a couple of runners over the sticks, Molly Oscar and Premier Dane.  Our ten year old, Premier Dane (pictured above) won nicely over hurdles on his debut for the yard last time out at Market Rasen and he now tries his luck over fences from only a 2lbs higher mark.  Tom Scudamore will ride both of our runners today.

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Shoegazer_gallops_Aug_web
                     Shoegazer

It is a Sunday and it seems a bit strange that we only have two meetings on, a flat card at Pontefract and a jumps card at Southwell.  You would think that the weekend would have the busiest days of the week with it being the best chance for many people to go racing.  Another area of the fisture planning I am not sure about!  So if you don't live up North today, bad luck!  David has three runners at Southwell.  Shoegazer kicks off the day for the yard in the 3.30pm race.  Its a 3 mile handicap hurdle worth £9,000 in prize moeny and it has attracted a field worthy of the money on offer.  Our seven year old carries top weight of 11st 12lb but young Kieron Edgar once again takes a very valuable ten pounds off of his back.  These brush hurdles take some jumping but it should suit our boy who has been mixing chasing and hurdling all summer and been running very consistently.  

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Hunterview_gallops
         Hunterview on the Gallops

David has sent two runners to Perth today to contest the summer champion hurdle which has very good prize money on offer.  His Excellency and Hunterview both run in the 4.15pm race and 11 runners contest this race for the £25,000 added prize money.  His Excellency is making his Pond House debut after being bought at Doncaster sales recently.  He has fairly decent form in Ireland but this will be no easy task for our four year old carrying top weight although promising young rider Kieron Edgar takes a handy ten pounds off his back.  This is Kieron's first ride as a conditional in this country. He was champion novice point to point rider in the Devon and Cornwall area last season and decided to turn pro over the summer.  He is a name to watch out for in the coming months.  

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rain

It is a blank day for the stable on the runners front and the calendar is back to all flat cards with six meetings taking place at Newbury, Newcastle, Nottingham, Newmarket, Kempton and Catterick.  Newbury plays host to a good Listed race and if Mick Channon's Sandreamer appreciates the drop back to five furlongs this filly certainly has the form to win the Bathwick Tyres sponsored race...the St Hugh's Stakes is the best race taking place in this country today.

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Starlife_gallops_web

There is a busy day's racing ahead with six meetings taking place - four of them on the flat at Salisbury, Newmarket, Beverley and Chepstow as well as two jumps cards (at last!) at Stratford and Fontwell.  The stable has four runners at Fontwell this evening - Dandyvic, Starlife, Dukes Art and Lahib The Fifth.  Starlife makes her debut for the yard and looks very interesting having won easily last time out at Auteuil, the ground will be a lot different tonight but she works like a decent horse.  Lahib The Fifth tries to build on his encouraging first run for the yard, while Dukes Art takes in the 2m2f handicap hurdle.  Over at Chepstow Vergrigio has his third start for us on the level and will be ridden by apprentice jockey Simon Pearce.

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The ups and downs of our wonderful sport were once again beautifully illustrated yesterday afternoon when Tomway was a costly failure at Wolverhampton.  Footballing star Wayne Rooney had enjoyed his first winner as an owner less than 24 hours before and his two year old colt had been well-backed into favouritism to add to that success.  However, he was unruly before the start (the horse that is!) and never threatened to land a blow in finishing fourth in the nine furlong nursery...back down to earth with a bang I guess.

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Clare_Balding

I think that it is good news for everyone involved that Channel 4 Racing have the rights to all televised racing on terestrial television and what is more, Channel 4 landed another coup yesterday when they announced the excellent Clare Balding as their lead presenter from 2013.  The major drawback is that John Francome has said that he will not be continuing in his role with the show, which is a shame as John always said what he thought (and often said it with a wicked sense of humour).  The only other negative as far as I can tell is that they haven't yet said that McCririck will not be appearing!

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