- Thursday, 26 April 2012 07:38
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
The Tracey Shuffle
At the moment there are five meetings left on for today, the flat at Beverley, Brighton and Wolverhampton and a jumps racing card at Perth. I am pleased to report that Punchestown goes ahead after an early morning inspection. David was due to have three runners at Uttoxeter this evening but the meeting was called off yesterday afternoon with a waterlogged track. Did anybody see the action from Punchestown yesterday? It ended up being a hurdle and bumper card and the Punchestown Gold Cup will now take place on Saturday. David's runner, Weekend Millionair ran a cracker to finish second in the handicap hurdle and got a good front running ride from our young conditional Tom Bellamy. He led all the way until approaching the last and kept battling on all the way to the line. The track had lots of water lying around and the horses seemed to be splashing through it okay. Let's just hope the rain eases off a little so we do not lose anymore fixtures this week. We have had another 14mm of rain at Pond House in the last 24 hours but it is fairly bright and not raining at the moment! David is due to have runners at Chepstow and Plumpton tomorrow and both meetings are hopeful of going ahead.
- Wednesday, 25 April 2012 07:00
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Weekend Millionair
Weather permitting, David has runners in Wales, Ireland and France today. Just keep an eye out ont he weather however as they are holding a 9.30am inspection at Hereford this morning to see if racing can go ahead. It certainly has rained a lot overnight, indeed we have had 25mm of rain at Pond House and everywhere is looking fairly soggy at the moment although it has eased off slighty as I am writing this! David has one runner at Hereford if racing goes ahead. Diamonds Return is looking to follow up his win at Wincanton on Sunday and Conor O'Farrell is once again in the saddle, riding for his father Seamus. Our young conditional Tom Bellamy has travelled over to Punchestown this morning and he is having his first ride over there on our runner in the 3.40pm race, Weekend Millionair. It will be a good experience for our young pilot and he was not without a chance as our gelding was an impressive winner at Ffos Las last time out. This is a fiercely competitive 28 runner handicap hurdle however so we will just have to see how he gets on.
- Tuesday, 24 April 2012 07:42
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
David has one runner today at Punchestown as we start day one of the Festival. War Singer runs in the 4.55pm handicap hurdle which looks very competitive and Tom Scudamore is in the saddle. David is currently on in way over to Ireland this morning and I am sure he will have a good couple of days whatever the results! The weather has claimed to fixtures in England today with both Newton Abbot and Folkestone being abandoned due to waterlogging. I live near Newton Abbot and we certainly have had a lot of rain in the last few days. I mean I have heard of April showers but yesterday must have been called April flooding! It is dry at the moment but we are forecast more rain later and tomorrows forecast looks very wet as well!
- Monday, 23 April 2012 07:04
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Problema Tic
What a great weekend for David and the stable with three winners which has brought up the century of winners for the season. Roi De Rose got a great ride from Conor O'Farrell to win at Bangor on Saturday. He seemed to be going the least well of the field in the race but in the final circuit he really came to life and ran out a very impressive winner. He certainly appears to have enjoyed the step up in trip to three miles in his last two races having won them both! Problema Tic was making his Pond House debut up at Ayr and he was another decisive winner for Scottish owners Sean and Josie Tracey. He jumped very well for Tom Scudamore and he looks a very nice buy from the Henderson team. It can always be a slight worry buying one from such a top yard but he certainly was impressive and on this form he can certainly win again. It was nearly a treble on Saturday when Enfant De Lune missed out narrowly in the opening race of the card at Ayr. Young conditional jockey Frank Hayes gave our recent Ffos Las winner a great ride and battled all the way to the line to finish a gallant second, only beaten a neck.
- Sunday, 22 April 2012 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
The stable has runners at Stratford and Wincanton this afternoon, and our stable sponor, Bathwick Tyres sponsors the whole card at Wincanton. The tracks rely on sponsorship to stage their fixtures and there are no better sponsors around than Bathwick Tyres - they have a runner at 3.10pm as Bathwick Man takes in the handicap hurdle. I am sure no-one would begrudge them winning some of their own money back!
- Saturday, 21 April 2012 07:17
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
There is plenty of racing on this afternoon but the obvious highlight is the Scottish National at Ayr. The stable has three runners up at Ayr - Junior (pictured above), a second fence faller in last week's Grand National, Problema Tic who makes his debut for the yard in the novices' handicap chase and Enfant de Lune, a winner last time out at Ffos Las. Problema Tic he has a good strike, winning six of his nine starts and hopefully he will be able to carry on where he left off. Meanwhile we have a couple of runners at Bangor, Roi de Rose who was a good winner last time out at Ffos Las and racecourse debutant Presenting William. Tom Scudamore heads north, while Conor O'Farrell crosses the Severn Bridge into Wales.
- Friday, 20 April 2012 07:07
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
I thought that Ashkazar put up a great performance yesterday to win at Cheltenham in only his third career start over fences. Our high class hurdler was potentially well-treated compared to his hurdles mark, but he still received a great ride from Timmy Murphy. He has now won 9 of his 27 starts and this was his third success at the Prestbury course. There were no fewer than eight non-runners in the handicap hurdle after the official going was changed to soft - I think that the trainers had been looking for good ground. I think our other runner at the course yesterday, Laustra Bad would certainly have preferred a faster surface.
