Super Bold!

       Only The Bold Winner at Bangor

It was great to get out 50th winner of the season at Bangor on Saturday courtesy of an emphatic performance from stable debutant, Only the Bold. Our seven year old was making his chasing debut and although he is not very big he jumped fantastically having travelled well behind the leaders he went clear from the third last. He was very well bought by James Couldwell for the Value Racing Club this summer and I know David has liked him from the start. Having cost a fair bit initially from the Irish point to point field it is probably fair to say his form has only been okay to date, but this well related son of Jeremy had not run over fences under rules or over three miles. This seemed to bring out the best in him on Saturday and Fergus Gillard gave him a confident ride and and victory looked assured some way from home barring accidents. We don’t have him entered up quickly so we will enjoy that success and pray the handicapper does not over react. There is definitely more to come from Only the Bold and plenty more fun to be had this winter.

At Newbury on Saturday all our horses ran tremendous races in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury. Remastered and Gericault Roque ran really well to be fighting out the finish, finishing second and third respectively. Remastered was just half a length behind the winner Le Milos at the line but couldn’t quite go by while Gericault Roque was only six lengths behind them in third.  Both of these horses would have preferred softer ground and it was tough and go whether they would even run or not right up until the last minute. David has discussions with the owners and it was decided to let them both take their chance. Initially they seem to have come out of the race fine and so fingers crossed we can look forward to some more nice races ahead. Gericault Roque holds an entry in the Welsh National but it still a novice so he does have plenty of options. There are no confirmed targets for Remastered but he to has to has various options.  He seems as good as we have ever had him at the moment. Red Happy was the outsider of the field but ran another super race and was still in contention as the field turned for home, eventually finishing eighth. He remains in good heart and there will be other easier opportunities for him to add to his fine winning tally.

On Sunday both Al Roc and Heure De Gloire finished third in their respective races.  Heure De Gloire was well clear of the field turning for home put got pretty tired as she was joined and passed just after the the last.  She may just have needed the run after a little break and hopefully she can build on this next time. 

It is a quiet start to the week for the yard with no runners today or tomorrow but there is jumping action at today at Catterick where Philip Armson has gone to ride and they race on the flat at Kempton and Wolverhampton on the all-weather.

Guess who I bumped into on the way to get my glasses fixed? Everybody!! Happy Monday.