Prideofthecastle_Exeter_web

It was a quiet start to the week with the first runners from the stable coming on Thursday at Wincanton, although come the weekend it was all hands on deck with eleven runners at Sandown and Aintree.  The stable enjoyed a nice winner at Exeter on Friday courtesy of Prideofthecastle and I thought there were a number of other praiseworthy performances as well, not least from Red Seventy, Home Run and Swing Bill.

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un_temps_pour_tout_web

It has certainly been a hectic week both on and off the racecourse.  There were a number of notable performances from the likes of Weather Babe and Shotavodka as well as the success of Heath Hunter, an exciting sales purchase and not to mention the small matter of a Sir Peter O’Sullevan lifetime achievement award for my father.

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Gevrey_Chambertin_Haydock_web

Well, as weekends go I have to admit that we have had worse!  Gevrey Chambertin (pictured above) secured our third success in four years in the valuable Fixed Brush handicap hurdle at Haydock, while Dynaste posted a personal best with his cracking run in the Betfair Chase.  Doctor Harper and Sir Frank recorded a double for the yard at Exeter on Sunday ensuring that the good form of the stable continued.

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  dellarca_cheltenham

Excuse me paraphrasing an old Dinah Washington classic song, but rarely has a truer word been spoken than ‘What a diff'rence a day made, twenty-four little hours’.  Following a couple of what can only be described as disappointing days at Cheltenham’s Open Meeting, you can imagine the sense of relief when Home Run landed the first race of the final day, so to actually finish up as top trainer at the meeting with four winners almost beggars belief!

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Doctor_Harper_Exeter

What an amazing few weeks it promises to be for racing -  not only has there been the small matter of Tony McCoy riding his 4,000th winner, the standard of racing is getting better with each passing week and this weekend it steps up another notch with Cheltenham’s Open Fixture.  The stable has a rich history of success at this meeting throughout the years and I was fortunate enough to supplement my father’s eight wins by landing the Paddy Power Gold Cup with Great Endeavour in 2011.  We have a strong team assembled to try to continue that tradition this year.

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Pleasant_Company_Ascot_web
With the season getting into full swing now, I am pleased to report that the stable remains in good form.  Indeed, four winners over the course of the last week means that our seasonal tally now stands at 29 – a favourable comparison to this time last year.   Furthermore, the victories came from some of the promising youngsters that I had been so hopeful of at the beginning of the season and bodes very well for the remainder of the campaign.

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Standing_Ovation_Wincanton_271013

Despite the heavy downpours, we were able to finish the week on a high with a couple of nice winners in the staying handicap chases on Sunday at Wincanton.  Standing Ovation continued his recent run of good form by taking the Desert Orchid Handicap Chase over the marathon trip of 3m3½f, while Franklin Roosevelt returned from his summer break to record a personal best in landing the 3m1½f handicap chase later on the same card.

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Kings_Palace_Chelt_1_0_00_51-02

With the jumps season beginning to get serious I am pleased to report that the horses are in good form - a sentiment that is backed up by a couple of nice winners during the course of the week.  Indeed, Standing Ovation followed-up his Exeter success with a ready victory at Wincanton’s first meeting of the season under another well-judged ride from Conor O’Farrell.

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david_pipe_portrait_web
We were back among the winners last week when Standing Ovation scored a thrilling success under an excellent ride by Conor O’Farrell in the staying handicap chase at Exeter on Thursday.  It really was a triumph for perseverance as Standing Ovation looked to be the first one beaten after a slow jump going out onto the final circuit but Conor never gave up and getting some prodigious leaps out of his partner in the straight, he got up to score by a hard fought neck.   Basil Fawlty also ran well to finish fourth in the same race.  He was one of four in line at the last – a mistake there cost him dearly, although it showed that he can remain competitive in races of this nature granted a clear round.

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Eddie_Buckley.jpg

Although we had no runners until the end of the week, it has nonetheless been a productive few days for the yard with the successes of Kings Palace at Fontwell on Friday and My Brother Sylvest at Huntingdon on Sunday taking our seasonal tally to twenty winners.

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