Three Meetings

     Sidi Ismael runs at Sandown today

Another week has flown by and we're back to another bumper Saturday for racing fans with plenty of action to look forward to.  There are four jumps meetings today at Aintree, Chepstow, Sandown and Wetherby and we are featured at three of them,  The feature at Sandown is of course the Tingle Creek chase at 2.55pm and at Aintree they race over the Grand National fences in the Becher chase at 2.05pm.  Sadly we are not represented in these races this year but out runners are Paricolor at Chepstow, Sizing Pottsie at Aintree and five runners at Sandown, Sidi Ismael, Bashful Boy, Gwencily Berbas, Red Happy and D'jango.

Paricolor runs in the opening contest of the Chepstow card at 11.53am.  It is a conditional jockeys handicap hurdle over three miles and Philip Armson rides.  Our six year old has won nine of his 25 starts over hurdles and made a nice seasonal reappearance at Ffos Las last month to finish third.  He usually needs his first run back and so hopefully that will have put him spot on for this.  It does however look a tough race on paper but at 10/1 I think he has a good each way chance.

Sizing Pottsie runs in the 3.15pm handicap hurdle up at Aintree with Fergus Gillard on board.  It is again a tough race but they have him priced up at about 12/1, 5th in the betting.  He has had two starts over hurdles for us, winning at Ayr as he should and then finishing runner up in a useful novice event at Haydock last time.  The handicapper actually dropped him ten pounds, to a mark of 133 for that run and while undoubtedly he is probably a much better chaser than hurdler, at least this is now reflected in his rating and it hopefully will make him competitive in this.  We are still waiting really for some heavy ground which he loves which will see him to best effect but while we wait for more rain we are stepping him up in distance to 2m4f this afternoon.  He has run over this trip twice before and finished second once and I think he will love the track and ground today.  

At Sandown we have five runners today and Sidi Ismael is the first of those, running in the Pertemps handicap hurdle at 1.10pm.  He has won four races from eight starts since joining are team and ran a cracker at Cheltenham last time to be third.  The ground was not soft enough that day and so he will appreciate todays more testing conditions.  He has blinkers on for the first time and I don't think he will be far away in what looks like an open looking race.  Tom Scu rides.

Bashful Boy runs in the two mile handicap hurdle at 2.20pm with Tom Scu on board.  This looks a competitive contest and we are one of the outsiders in the field.  He would prefer a quicker surface ideally but he ran better at Newbury last time and if the handicapper can give him a bit more help then I am sure he will be back in the winners enclosure soon.  We have three runners in the London National at 3.30pm.  They are definitely no easy races today and this is no exception.  Gwencily Berbas with Tom Scu on board is the shortest priced of our trio of runners and he ran well on seasonal reappearance behind Ramses De Teillee at Warwick last time.  He finished fifth and has come on for that run.  He ran well in the Eider last season over 4 miles an won at Exeter over 3m6f so he will love todays stamina test and I think he has a good each way chance.  Red Happy ran a cracker in the Coral Gold Cup last week and runs again with Theo Gillard in the saddle.  D'jango also runs in the race with James Best on board.  He finished fifth in the Southern National at Fontwell last time.  He is a thorough stayer and will enjoy todays test but he does race from eight pounds of the weights.

In yesterday's action, Make Me a Believer ran a nice comeback race to be sixth on his chasing debut at Exeter.  He seems fine this morning which is the main thing and fingers crossed he comes out of this well and we can look forward to plenty of fun for the rest of the season.  Our other runners were unfortunately disappointing yesterday.  I had high hopes but sadly as we know horses our not machines and both Jet Smart and Man At Work were disappointing.  While no obvious reason has come to light just yet, they are both okay and we know these runs were too bad to be true and they are both much better than this.  We will check them over fully in the coming days and I am sure when they are both seen next they will be back on song.

I am looking forward to seeing Shishkin return to action in the Tingle Creek, we know Greaneteen loves this race and Sandown so Shishkin will have to be at his best to beat him.  While I have not studied the Aintree card properly I think I would go for Snow Leopardess in the Becher chase.  She loves these fences and while she would prefer even softer conditions I think some horses just come alive around these special occasions, as we know from our very own Vieux Lion Rouge.  She made a very bad blunder on her seasonal reappearance at Warwick at the first fence and she was very wisely looked after and pulled up.  I am sure she will have been primed for this and I can see her running a big race with Brian Hughes in the saddle.  

Enjoy all the Saturday action everyone - I shall save my joke for tomorrow!