Placed Again!

I thought that the stable's Our Father ran another good race at Newbury yesterday afternoon, despite finishing second to Handy Andy in the novices' hurdle.  The pair of them finished well clear of the remainder and they look to be a couple of useful recruits.  I was pleased to see the winner was owned by Brocade Racing (who have a number of nice horses here at Pond House) - he fetched quite a lot of money at the sales in January and our fellow was trying to concede 6lbs to him, so I reckon it was a decent run from our five year old.  Our Father is a lovely big stamp of a horse who is still really just a big baby - I am sure the further experience will not have been lost on him.

Qulinton put in a decent effort in the 2m1f handicap chase and but for a couple of little errors, I think he would have finished a fair bit closer, while Dream Esteem also ran a sound race to finish second up at Doncaster.  She is another one like Laustra Bad (that I mentioned yesterday) - she just seems to be 2 or 3lbs too high in the handicap.  She will continue to run well, but the handicapper will continue to put her up in the weights.  The trouble is, if they can't win from their current marks, what chance have they of winning from a slightly higher mark?  The stable's runners continue to run well without winning - hopefully we are saving all of our winners up for the Cheltenham Festival - only 10 days to go!

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Following hot on the heels of England's embarrassing loss to Ireland in the World Cup Cricket, I see that our Davis Cup Tennis Team are currently drawing 1-1 with Tunisia!  I wouldn't have thought that there were that many tennis courts in Tunisia - their team had to use their captain for a massage when one of their players developed a cramp in his legs.  Our team has coaches, masseurs, physios, dietitions, and psycho analysts to help them out.  Remember, Andy Murray didn't come through our system, so what on earth do the LTA spend all of their money on?  Something is seriously wrong with our tennis development program!

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I bring you a couple more pictures from earlier in the week on the gallops.  This time I have old favourite Lough Derg in action as he worked alongside Gentle Ranger, while I also have a nice shot of a couple of greys - Glassawine and Atlantic Pearl (who contests a bumper at Doncaster this afternoon).

  
Above left: (l-r) Lough Derg and Gentle Ranger, and right: Glassawine and Atlantic Pearl on the gallops

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Cheltenham Festival Selections On
The Update Line 09060 400 901

I thought that you would be interested to hear of the line-up of special guests that will be appearing on the Update Line as the countdown to the best four days of jump racing in the world continues.  We will be speaking to some of the most respected people in the business and they will be giving us their Festival fancies...

We start with stable jockey Tom Scudamore on Tuesday and will continue with his father, eight times champion jockey Peter Scudamore, Bloodstock Agent Tom Malone, Attheraces presenter Luke Harvey, fifteen times champion jockey A P McCoy, fifteen times champion trainer Martin Pipe, and of course, David who has had five Festival winners in his first four full seasons with a training license.  To listen in to this exclusive information call 09060 400 901 from 10am daily.  (Calls charged at £1.50 per min at all times, helpline 01884 840715)