- Saturday, 23 June 2012 06:51
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
It's a Saturday and once again there is no jump racing on! Instead there are six flat cards headed by the final day of Royal Ascot, as well as Ayr, Redcar, Newmarket, Haydock and Lingfield. Of course all eyes will be on Australian wonder mare Black Caviar in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at 3.45pm as she bids for an incredible 22nd consecutive win and her 12th in Group One company. She looks like going off at long odds-on so I will only be watching enjoying the Aussie superstar - god knows, they need one...I am of course refering to their cricket team!
- Friday, 22 June 2012 07:05
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
It is a blank day for the yard with no runners, although there are six meetings on across the country with the fourth day of Royal Ascot the highlight. It was another fantastic day's action at the Berkshire track yesterday afternoon with Frankie Dettori landing the centrepiece, the Ascot Gold Cup aboard Colour Vision. It was a great race with no less than four horses involved in the closing stages and Dettori prevailing in a driving finish from the other Godolphin runner, Opinion Poll. Frankie looked so pleased, I don't think I have ever seen a higher flying dismount - many more like that and he will have to use a safety net! Favourite Fame And Glory never really looked likely to get involved - his run was too bad to be true and I am sure we will hear an explanation for this below-par performance in due course.
- Thursday, 21 June 2012 07:11
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Today is Ladies Day at Royal Ascot and the highlight on the card is the Ascot Gold Cup and it will be interesting to see if Fame And Glory can follow-up his victory of twelve months ago and maintain Aidan O'Brien's stranglehold on the race (Yeats' four victories mean that he has won the race and incredible five times in the last six years). It was a good day for the Ballydoyle team yesterday with them winning the opener with Islivana and the Prince Of Wales with So You Think, who was recording his tenth success in Group One company. Incidentally Islivana was owned and bred by Anne-Marie O'Brien (Aidan's wife) - talk about keeping it in the family! There was a sting in the tail for jockey Seamie Heffernan though as he landed himself in hot water with the stewards and picked up a seven day ban for his use of the whip.
- Wednesday, 20 June 2012 07:15
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
What an incredible day for our sport yesterday with the start of the Royal Meeting at Ascot and a performance of extraordinary excellence from the best racehorse on the planet, Frankel. The Sir Henry Cecil trained superstar won by no less than eleven lengths from a Group One winner (Excelebration) and take it from me, winning by that distance over a mile against any competition is hard enough - to do it against a top class opponent is extraordinary. All of the television pundits were waxing lyrical claiming that he is the best horse that they have ever seen and I would probably have to agree with them. The term "machine" is used far too often, but Frankel comes as close to that description as any of them.
- Tuesday, 19 June 2012 07:21
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
There are three flat cards taking place this afternoon withthe obvious highlight being the start of the Royal Meeting at Ascot. Thirsk and Brighton are on in support, while Newton Abbot plays host to the sole jumps card of the day. The stable has two runners in the Ascot Stakes, Fiulin and Ashbrittle who are bidding to emulate the 2010 success of Junior. David has left nothing to chance with jockey bookings - he has employed the services of dual champion jockey Paul Hanagan for Ashbrittle, while Richard Hughes takes the mount aboard Fiulin. Over the sticks at Newton Abbot, Laustra Bad is our only runner and he will be partnered by Tom Scudamore.
- Monday, 18 June 2012 08:08
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Junior & Ashbrittle on the Gallops Earlier in the Year
As I mentioned on yesterdays blog, there was a very important game of cricket happening in Culmstock yesterday and even though I was not present my spies tell me the game went ahead, beating the weather and Tom Scu's team lost! They batted first and set a target of 158 (not sure how many overs they were playing - it was shortened slighty because of rain breaks!). Tom Scu and brother Michael opened the batting and then also on their team were David, Sam Thomas, Joe Tizzard, Warren Greaterex, Charlie Huxley and Tom Bellamy. David scored a respectable 15 runs while Tom Bellamy was out for a duck! After tea the opposition showed off their batting skills and scored at quite a high run rate and it wasn't too long before they sealed victory. I must just mentioned David took a very fine catch and bowled well to apparantly! A good time was had by all and everyone enjoyed their afternoon, despite the weather and the main thing is they raised a nice bit of money for the South West Children's Hospice.
- Saturday, 16 June 2012 08:06
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Tom Scu will be Playing Cricket Today!
There are just two flat cards today at Doncaster and Salisbury and both tracks are giving the ground as soft. Champion jockey Paul Hanagan makes a rare visit to Salisbury for one booked ride in the 3.25pm. This could be a tip in itself though of course he would ride more if he had been booked so the one ride theory goes out of the window! There is some great sporting action on around the World at the moment but if you are in the area of Culmstock this afternoon thee is a very important cricket match taking place! With no jumps action on around the country it gives the jump jocks a rare day off and weather permitting of course, Tom Scu has a cricket team playing in aid of the charity, the South West Childrens Hospice. David is playing in his team along with a few other jockeys including Sam Thomas to name one and it should be a good event. They have done this for the last few years and have raised a fair bit of money for charity so fingers crossed the weather holds fair and we can see David and Tom in their cricket whites showing of their skills and raising some money in a good cause!
