- Monday, 28 February 2011 08:19
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It was a good day for the yard up at Newcastle on Saturday with Battle Group winning by a short head. Our six year old certainly has plenty of ability, although he can on occasions appear to be a tricky customer (as I am sure anybody who was at Exeter last time will testify). It was a good performance to give 4lbs and a beating to odds-on favourite Yurok in bottomless ground. The Tracey Shuffle also produced a good performance to win his second bumper in fine style under a penalty. It normally takes a pretty decent type to win two bumpers, and this full brother to Mr Thriller and half brother to Gaspara looks to be a nice type for owners Sean & Jo Tracey to go hurdling with.
- Sunday, 27 February 2011 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
We are expecting a visit from former snooker world champion John Parrott tomorrow, so I dare say that the snooker cues will have been dusted off and at the ready for Monday night! I would have thought I would still be favourite to beat John at ping pong, although MCP is quite handy too so we may have a little bit of Pipe v Parrott. It should be a good night and I will let you know the results on Tuesday morning - if I have sobered up in time!...
- Saturday, 26 February 2011 08:17
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Did I walk under a ladder yesterday? If you had been watching the racing yesterday, you would have thought that I had! Qalinas looked all over the winner turning into the straight in the conditional jockey's handicap hurdle and from nowhere Kadouchski suddenly bounced back to life and stayed on up the Sandown hill to get the better of us close home. Then, later in the afternoon Dan Breen won the three runner novices' chase by a short head from Giorgio Quercus, but he carried the runner-up right after the last and the steward's reversed the order following an enquiry. It pains me to say it, but it was the correct decision and Tom Scudamore received a three day ban (11-13th March).
- Friday, 25 February 2011 07:53
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Even with free entry on offer to Kempton racegoers on Wednesday evening, the all-weather card only attracted 1,200 people and don't forget that it is half-term! Teams in the lowest football leagues attract 1,200 people - Torquay get more than that and you have to pay to go to see them! It just goes to show that racing is not as big as we would like to think - you would have thought that a London track offering free entry would have attracted plenty more people, or am I missing something? I wonder what sort of attendance they get if they don't give away free admission?!
- Thursday, 24 February 2011 08:10
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I see that Richard Hannon's powerful string of flat horses has increased to 231, with over 130 of them being two year olds. Mark Johnston is the only other trainer to have a sizeable number of two year olds this season, so it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if these two fought it out for the upcoming flat trainers championship. With Hannon having so much ammunition, I wonder if this is the year that Richard Hughes finally lands a jockey's championship? I know that Paul Hanagan will be determined to defend his title, but plenty will depend on whether his main supplier of winners, Richard Fahey can have another stellar season. It looks certain to be another interesting and exciting contest. I was also pleased to see that Henry Cecil's numbers have increased to 140 on the back of his great season last year - that is the most horses he has had at Warren Place for a decade.
- Wednesday, 23 February 2011 08:14
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There is a very interesting double page article in today's Racing Post about the Scudamore dynasty. It tells you all about Michael, Peter, Tom and Michael Jnr. Peter was champion jockey eight times when he was riding for Martin and I still remember when he posted 223 winners in the 1988/89 season, making the old champions look like novices. Scu would be among the first to admit that he was never the most stylish of jockeys but he was very determined and knew where the winning post was. Peter's father Michael rode in 16 consecutive Grand Nationals (that is still a record) and he won the great race in 1959 aboard Oxo. The article makes great reading.
- Tuesday, 22 February 2011 08:08
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Roger Stanley, the lucky part-owner of Madison du Berlais and Grands Crus is coming down to Taunton to see his runner E Street Boy in action. I have heard on the grapevine that Luke Harvey wants to interview Roger for Attheraces...you would have thought that prospect alone was enough for Roger to give the meeting a swerve! I have played golf with Roger and I can tell you that he is very competitive. He also likes his cycling and he tells me that he has ridden around Europe...or maybe it was just France? I would love to see him in his lycra shorts - only joking Roger!
