- 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.
- Tuesday, 19 February 2013 08:11
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
We only had one runner at Southwell yesterday afternoon but it was a winner so you can't ask for much more than that! Franklin Roosevelt was the ready winner of the 3m2f handicap chase under Tom Scudamore. Our seven year old jumped well in the main and stayed on strongly to win his first race over fences at the third attempt - it was certainly a good performance. Southwell should be commended on the state of the ground considering that back before Christmas the course more closely resembled a boating lake! It was their first meeting since and the good/soft ground was a great achievement by the groundstaff.
- Monday, 18 February 2013 08:20
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
The stable had a winner at Ascot on Saturday when Red Sherlock made it two winners from two starts with success in the bumper. The ground looked to be pretty awful, but although he was made to pull out all the stops by winning pointer The Sky Farmer, he stayed on in determined fahion to lead close home. It will certainly be interesting to see what David does with him next as he has some very nice horses in the bumper division this season. On the same card you had to be impressed by Cue Card but I am not convinced by his Cheltenham Festival prospects. I just wonder whether his jumping might find him out come the big occasion?
