My_Brother_Sylvest_Wincanton_231011

My Brother Sylvest absolutely hacked up again at Wincanton yesterday to supplement his victory at Exeter on Tuesday.  He was an easy ten length winner in the hands of young conditional Conor O'Farrell and according to David he could be in for a busy week as he is entered at Chepstow on Tuesday and Uttoxeter on Thursday.  I am sure the handicapper will take a dim view of his successes so he will surely run again before the assessor can have his say.  Incidentally, he is for sale and you can register your interest by calling our office on 01884 840715.

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Battle_Group_Aintree

It looks like being a busy day today with runners at both Aintree and Wincanton. Battle Group makes his seasonal debut at Liverpool, scene of his finest hour last season when winning the John Smith's Handicap Hurdle (Grade 3) at the Grand National meeting (pictured above). He will be partnered by Tom Scu who has elected to take the trip up north. We have three runners at Wincanton this afternoon and conditional jockey Conor O'Farrell rides Bathwick Man, Frosted Grape and My Brother Sylvest. My Brother Sylvest won in good style at Exeter earlier in the week and is turned out again quickly before the handicapper can have his say.

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The stable has three runners this afternoon: two at Chepstow (Trop Fort and Shoegazer who will both be ridden by Tom Scudamore) and one at Stratford (Teshali with Conor O'Farrell in the saddle).  It looks to be a very competitive day's action including an exciting clash between Master Minded and Albertas Run in the Old Roan Chase at Aintree.  The big race of the day on the level is the Racing Post Trophy and the favourite is the Aidan O'Brien trained Camelot.  Camelot cost connections £500,000 so they will be hoping to recoup some of that price tag with this £131,567.20 prize - I wonder what they would do with the odd 20 pence?!

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Swing_Bill_gallops

We don't have any runners this afternoon, but I have been busy down on the gallops armed with the camera and I managed to capture a few old favourites as they went through their paces. First up was Swing Bill as he completed a solo gallop, while former Hennessy winner Madison du Berlais worked in company with former Victor Chandler winner Tamarinbleu.  It was certainly good to see them all looking so well in the morning sunshine.

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Shaking_Hands__Another_Display_gallops

We have a couple of runners at Ludlow this afternoon, Bathwick Scanno (ridden by Frank Hayes) and Rainy Champion (Mikey Ennis) in the juvenile hurdle.  It looks like a tight little race with plenty of the runners in with a chance of sorts - hopefully ours will perform creditably and give the lads a nice ride.

I have a couple more pictures from the gallops for you - this time of Shaking Hands and Another Display, as well as old favourite Lough Derg who worked in company with Gentle Ranger.

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My_Brother_Sylvest_Exeter_191011

The stable had a good day yesterday afternoon at Exeter with a couple of winners and a second from our three runners.  I know that it was only a three runner race and he was aboard the 1/9 favourite, but I still thought that young amateur jockey Tom Bellamy gave Soulard a good front running ride.  Take it from me, it is not as easy as it looks to get the fractions right and he didn't panic when one came to him early in the straight - the fact that he was able to pull away again comfortably between the last two showed that he judged it nicely.  Tom already looks more stylish than his father (former jockey and clerk of the course at Towcester) Robert Bellamy.

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Lough_Derg__Another_Display_gallops

The stable has three runners at Exeter this afternoon, Soulard, Shallow Bay and My Brother Sylvest.  With the uncharacteristic dry weather that we have been having, the ground is pretty quick and consequently there are no big fields.  Even so, we have had a little overnight rain and another shower or two this morning so hopefully that should have just eased the ground a little.

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