- Tuesday, 02 August 2011 07:26
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It was a good day for the yard yesterday when Bathwick Man landed the handicap hurdle in the hands of Conor O'Farrell at Newton Abbot. It was a change in tactics from the usual front running role and it seemed to suit him well, coming home six lengths clear of his rivals. It is great to have a winner for stable sponsors Wayne and Sarah Clifford who put so much into our sport.
- Monday, 01 August 2011 07:47
- Written by Chester Barnes
David has three runners at Newton Abbot today with Bathwick Man kicking off our trio in the 4.30pm race. He ran well on his comeback run at Stratford and finished second but dissapointed at Uttoxeter last time out. Conor O'Farrell is in the saddle once again and we are hoping he can bounce back to form. Conor rode a winner at Galway yesterday for former boss John Joseph Hanlon so we are hoping he can continue in the winners today as he rides all of David's runners this afternoon. Kilshanna runs in the Conditional jockeys handicap chase and Star of Germany runs in the conclucing chase on the card.
- Sunday, 31 July 2011 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
The range of markets that bookmakers offer the poor punters to bet on these days never ceases to amaze me. You can bet on just about evey sport from hurling (the Irish ball game - not something you do after a heavy Saturday night out!) to tiddlywinks as well as some more "speciality" markets such as who will be the first Premiership manager to ban their players from using social networking website Twitter, to who will light the Olympic Flame at the opening ceremony of London 2012. The Olympic Flame market interests me and I see that some punters are keen to take on odds-on favourite (and five time Olympic gold medal winner) Sir Steve Redgrave with Sir Bob Geldof. I just hope for their sakes that the opening ceremony is not on a Monday...I hear on the grapevine that Sir Bob is not too partial to those!
- Saturday, 30 July 2011 07:30
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Good luck to anyone having a bet at Goodwood this afternoon. The Sussex track plays host to the annual cavalry charge that is the Stewards' Cup Handicap. Although there is a race with only seven runners (featuring the top class Midday and Snow Fairy), the next smallest field contains no less than fourteen participants, while the remainder of the meeting has at least sixteen runners in each contest - it certainly looks like a tricky task to find the winners.
- Friday, 29 July 2011 07:13
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Following his electrifying success on the Goodwood Downs on Wednesday I see that early estimates of Frankel's stud value are already in the region of £30 million! These reports may be (excuse the pun) a little premature as there is every chance that Henry Cecil's star three year old will stay in training next season. The really scary thought is that his trainer reckons that he will be even better as a four year old, in which case I can't see too many people lining up to take him on - another haul of Group One's next year and his value could sky-rocket.
- Thursday, 28 July 2011 07:22
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
The assembled masses at Goodwood yesterday afternoon were treated to a performance of sheer brilliance from the Sir Henry Cecil trained Frankel. In what was billed as the "Duel On The Downs", there was only ever likely to be one outcome once Tom Queally committed Prince Khalid Abdullah's three year old for home. The response was instant and decisive as he quickly put distance betweem himself and the pursuing Canford Cliffs. While I was in the Canford camp before the race, I have to concede that it would have taken a career best (by some margin) for him to even make a race of it.
- Wednesday, 27 July 2011 07:07
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
David flies over to Ireland this morning to saddle our two runners, Qulinton (Conor O'Farrell) and Matuhi (Hadden Frost) in the Galway Plate at 5.25pm. Both of them won nice prizes last time out and should perform creditably. The horses left on Monday and arrived safe and sound and have settled in well - they were joined on the journey by David's first Irish winner, Street Entertainer who runs in the Galway Hurdle tomorrow - Conor will ride him.
