Moon Shines At Wincanton

The stable enjoyed another nice winner yesterday afternoon when Neon Moon landed the 2m4f maiden hurdle at Wincanton.  Our five year old gelding was winning his first start over timber having shown promise in a bumper and hurdle race since joining the Pond House team.  He moved into contention at the end of the back straight on the final circuit, travelling better than he had done at any point in the race, before grinding out victory in the straight.  The longer trip certainly helped to bring about some improvement and he seemed to handle the rain softened ground.  He was still showing a few signs of inexperience and can improve further and rates another nice prospect for his owners Brocade Racing.

Meanwhile, over at Lingfield Sans Logique ran a better race in the 1m4f handicap, finishing third and picking up a bit of prize money.  This was a step in the right direction but he does look as though he could do with a bit of help from the handicapper though.

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Sandown and Leicester and a couple of all-weather flat meetings from Lingfield and Wolverhampton.  David has two runners at Sandown today; Gericault Roque and Sexy Lot.

Gericault Roque contests the 2m conditional jockeys handicap hurdle at 1.55pm.  He was a good winner on his penultimate start, beating tomorrow's Imperial Cup favourite, Natural History at Plumpton.  He was far from disgraced behind a couple of useful rivals last time at Fakenham with the tight track not really suiting.  This galloping track should suit and he looks to have a good chance this afternoon under Fergus Gillard who takes a valuable 3lbs off his back.

Our other runner is Sexy Lot who runs in the 2m4f novices' handicap hurdle at 4.45pm.  She is an improving young mare who has won twice this season at Ffos Las and Chepstow and has been only narrowly beaten on her last three starts.  She rather ran in snatches last time before finishing with a flourish at Wetherby.  She is on the same mark today and the galloping track and stiff uphill finish should certainly suit her, whilst any further rain would aid her chances.  Fergus Gillard takes 5lbs off her back and she looks to have solid each-way claims.

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There is Premier League action tonight as Newcastle host Aston Villa.  Villa won their clash earlier in the season 2-0 and I expect a similar result tonight.

Not all of you will be thrilled, but I am excited to see that the start of testing for the new season of Formula 1 got underway this morning in Bahrain.  The first race takes place in just two weeks at this track, which takes the place of the usual season opener in Australia.

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I took part in the sun tanning Olympics - I just got bronze!