- Tuesday, 17 January 2012 08:41
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It could be a bit of a quiet day on the racing front. Fakenham abandoned their jumping card yesterday, while Folkestone will face a second inspection this morning at 10am to see if racing can go ahead. Add to that, the fact that there is no all-weather racing this afternoon and we could quite easily be reliant on Ayr for our racing fix! We have no runners today, although (weather permitting) we will have runners at Newbury tomorrow.
- Monday, 16 January 2012 08:13
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It's another cold start to the morning (as you can see from the picture of the gallops) and it looks like being a quite day with the stable having no runners this afternoon.
I thought that the stable's runners performed creditably in the main at the weekend without quite getting their heads in front. The trouble is a few of them look to be in the grip of the handicapper - not least the likeable mare Dream Esteem who keeps going up in the weights for finishing in the frame - she finished a close third at Kempton on Saturday and no doubt will face another hike. It does seem a little harsh - the horses certainly creep up the ratings a lot quicker than they drop down them and if you are fortunate enough to pinch one, trainers are often forced to run again quickly under a penalty for fear of what the handicapper will do to them.
- Sunday, 15 January 2012 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I am not sure how welcome trainer Andrew Balding will be when (or if) he ever goes back to Wolverhampton racecourse. He had runners at the track earlier in the week and then posted on social networking site Facebook that "the best part of going racing at Wolverhampton is leaving!". I know that it is not the most glamorous track in the world but they were always very helpful to us when MCP was training. We would often take some horses there to gallop, although I am not sure David will want reminding of that too much - he came off one and was injured - I don't think it could have been too bad though as he didn't want the boot cutting off by the medics!
- Saturday, 14 January 2012 08:45
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It has been a cold night and it is certainly crisp this morning as you can see from the picture of the gallops. Wetherby have obviously suffered from the dropping temperatures and have had to abandon this afternoon's fixture, while Kempton are holding a second inspection at 10am ahead of their Lanzarote fixture.
It looks like a typically competitive Saturday afternoon's racing and the yard is represented at Kempton and Warwick with plenty of runners. Tom Scudamore will be aboard Decoy, a winner at Cheltenham on his penultimate start is favourite for the Lanzarote hurdle at Kempton where he is joined by dual Festival winner Buena Vista - it is a twenty runner handicap and the bookies will bet a big price the field. Dream Esteem is our other runner at Kempton and she makes her seasonal reappearance after a break of around 300 days - she was running consistently well when last seen and will be partnered by Tom Scudamore.
- Friday, 13 January 2012 08:37
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
The stable has just the one runner this afternoon - Clever Dick participates in the conditional jockey's handicap hurdle at Huntingdon at 12.50pm and Conor O'Farrell takes the ride. Let's hope that he has better luck than our North Yorkshire National runner Shaking Hands who was sent off favourite for the marathon handicap at Catterick yesterday only to unseat Tom Scudamore at the first. I am pleased to report that both horse and jockey are fine this morning.
- Thursday, 12 January 2012 08:10
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Shotavodka proved to be the best of the stable's runners yesterday when just getting run out of the bumper at Doncaster in the final strides to be beaten the minimum distance of a nose by Hi George. He showed a good turn of foot entering the straight and while it is agonising to be beaten in such circumstances, it was clearly a decent performance trying to concede 19lbs to the winner and he should be more than capable of winning similar and looks a sure-fire winner when switched to obstacles.
- Wednesday, 11 January 2012 08:17
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Kazlian was impressive when winning as he pleased at Leicester yesterday afternoon. It is difficult to get a handle on the value of the form as there were plenty of very good ex-flat horses in the line-up who are yet to really show the same level of form over timber. Even so, he could do no more than win comfortably - he certainly handles the testing going well although I don't see any reason why he shouldn't handle better ground. The thing that impressed me was that his jumping has become more fluent with each race and he might well have to step up in grade now.
