Chilly Start

It is a frosty start here at Pond House, but not as cold as some places have reached.  It is currently -1c at 7.30am and while there is frost on the car windscreens the ground is okay here at the yard.  The ground is also okay at nearby Taunton and racing goes ahead there with no problems while unfortunately Warwick has been abandoned.  Their temperatures dropped to -7.4c overnight there and I think it was an easy decision for them to abandon racing at 7am this morning, they did not need to wait for their scheduled 8am check!  We were due to have one runner at Warwick today, Panic Attack so she will now enjoy a normal exercise day at home for her and we will have to look for another race for her.

We have one runner at Taunton today, Ya Know Yaseff who runs in the 1.00pm handicap hurdle over 2 miles.  Philip Armson was riding but with Warwick now abandoned Tom Scu is likely to make the switch to ride.  Our five year old mare is a point to point winner who has yet to show too much over hurdles so far but starts her handicap life off a mark of 81.  I see that the Racing Post have her at 12/1 and it will be a watching brief for me.

There is also due to be jumps racing at Newcastle today but they are now inspecting at 8.30am as temperatures are set to drop as daybreak happens.  They have frost covers down and they did not get too cold (-1.3c) last night so fingers crossed they may beat the freeze.  In Ireland they are hoping to race over jumps at Clonmel today but they must pass an 8am inspection.  On the all-weather they race at Chelmsford later on this afternoon.

It is great however that Taunton goes ahead and it looks an interesting card with good field sizes and competitive racing.  The first race looks particularly interesting, it may only be a seller but two Irish runners are amongst the seven strong field.  The Charles Byrnes trained Wajaaha heads the betting and is surely the one they all have to beat.  He won a seller at Plumpton last time he ran over hurdles and then went back to Ireland and won on the flat at Dundalk last time.  Gordon Elliott also has a runner in the race, Poseidon.  While he doesn't have much recent form, he is still rated 133 over hurdles and this is a major drop in class.  Interestingly enough, this horse was previously trained in Ireland by Charles Byrnes and has only had two runs for Gordon!  Some might ask, why are these Irish trainers over contesting a seller in the UK for not much prize money.? At the end of the day, they will travel for a winning opportunity and they don't have hardly any selling races in Ireland.  Gordon has runners at Cheltenham in the coming days while Charles Byrnes had a winner at Leicester yesterday so I am sure these two horses jumped on the lorry over when there was space.  Which one will come out on top?  Wajaaha for me!

As you have probably heard, the weather is set to get even colder in the coming days so there may not be much jumping action to watch.  Frost covers have been put down where they can but they only work up until a certain freezing point.  We are due to have four runners at Bangor tomorrow but there is already an 8am inspection there.  We don't have anything at Cheltenham on Friday but they are also inspecting while at Doncaster there is no inspection planned at present I wouldn't be surprised if one is called later today for tomorrow morning.

Enjoy the action from Taunton everyone and stay warm! 

I asked the doctor if I could administer my own anaesthetic...He said "go ahead, knock yourself out!"