- Sunday, 25 December 2011 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Well, it's Christmas Day and I hope that Father Christmas (or maybe one of his helpers pictured above) has bought you everything that you wanted. As for me, I will settle for a few winners for the yard over the festive period...we should have some decent chances with no fewer than fourteen runners tomorrow across five meetings in this country, as well as at Leopardstown over in Ireland.
- Saturday, 24 December 2011 07:42
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Although there is no racing on until Boxing Day, it is still all go at the stables. All horses still need feeding, mucking out, grooming and riding out so there will be plenty of staff in over the festive period. David will be planning the travel arrangements for the five Boxing Day meetings, as well as our Irish runners. The owners will all be keen to run and will doubtless take family and friends. At the moment it looks as though most of the meetings will get the go ahead - the biggest threat this year would appear to be the rain rather than freezing conditions that blighted our winter last season.
- Friday, 23 December 2011 08:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There is no racing in this country today, so for a bit of Christmas action on the television we have to rely on Dundalk and Meydan. I see that there are plenty of English based jockeys over at Meydan at present (Richard Hills, Richard Mullen, James Doyle & Ted Durcan to name but a few) and I suppose they will be taking more rides there over the coming months. I can't say that I blame them - at least they will be keeping nice and warm over Christmas. Over in Ireland they are racing on the all-weather - it is amazing how much better funded their all-weather racing is compared to on these shores.
- Thursday, 22 December 2011 08:16
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It was a good day for the stable yesterday with a brace of winners at Ffos Las. All eyes were certainly on Gevrey Chambertin in the closing bumper and our full brother to Grands Crus did not disappoint, winning by 30 lengths. With his illustrious relations, he has plenty to live up to although you couldn't fail to be impressed by the manner of victory on his racecourse debut. I doubt whether the beaten horses are a great bunch and heavy ground can often exagerate winning margins, but he is clearly a very smart prospect and the bookies obviously agree - Victor Chandler have installed him as their second favourite for the Festival Bumper at 14/1.
- Wednesday, 21 December 2011 08:30
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
All eyes focus on Ffos Las this afternoon for our final runners this side of Christmas. We have six runners at the Welsh track this afternoon and I notice that three of them are forecast to go off favourite according to the Racing Post. Kazlian showed a good level of form on the flat in France and was runner-up on his hurdling debut at Market Rasen, while Ashbrittle makes his hurdling debut this afternoon. He was a decent stayer on the flat and looks the type to make up into a nice hurdler. The one that really catches the eye however is Gevrey Chambertin - the full brother to the stable's top class hurdler/chaser Grands Crus who makes his racecourse debut in the closing bumper. He was purchased from the French Sales back in the summer and it will certainly be interesting to see how he fares.
- Tuesday, 20 December 2011 07:58
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
We have three runners this afternoon at Taunton. On Khee (Tom Scudamore) and The Tatkin (Mr Keiron Edgar) participate in the mares' novices' hurdle at 12.30pm, while Gaspara takes part in the closing handicap hurdle at 3.05pm and will be ridden by young Frank Hayes.
The ground at Bangor went from good/soft to soft yesterday afternoon and the runners finished very tired and some of them were clearly finding it difficult to jump out of the ground. The stable's two runners found it very testing - I would imagine more so in the case of Martial Law, who was last seen racing in Australia! This was his hurdling debut and his jumping improved as the race went on and he can only improve for the experience.
- Monday, 19 December 2011 08:09
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Water Garden was a good winner at Ascot on Saturday in a thrillilng finish under a great ride from Timmy Murphy. Our five year old went up a stone for winning at Wincanton but is clearly progressing and to win at one of the country's premier tracks is an excellent achievement. The Long Walk Hurdle produced an exciting finish with Dynaste trying to run the sting out of Big Buck's. At one point he looked to have the champion stayer in a degree of trouble, but Big Buck's soon came back on the bridal to score by eight lengths - what an amazing horse he is. Dynaste weakened into fourth but the way he jumped and travelled for much of the race, he certainly looks to warrant his place at the top table and he looks as though he wouldn't be inconvenienced by dropping back in trip.
