Taunton & Lingfield

    American Sniper runs at Taunton today

It is a busy day for the team today with eight runners across two meetings. We have three runners at Lingfield, Heure De Gloire, Duc De Beauchene and Red Lion Lad. At our most local track, Taunton, we have five runners, Colony Queen, American Sniper, Doyen La Lutte, Bashful Boy and Master Blaze. Before I talk about them I want to let you know what happened to Red Happy at Ludlow yesterday. Everything was going to plan in the race with just over a circuit to go when a tack malfunction occurred. From the TV it looked like the saddle had slipped and Tom Scu had lost his irons and had to pull up. It so transpired that the metal buckle on his stirrup leathers had completely snapped in two. It does happen that the leather can sometimes break but not the actual metal itself. What is even more worrying is that the leathers are less than two weeks old, Tom Scu regularly updates his equipment and so it is even more strange. While frustrating to say the least, both Tom and the horse are okay which is the main thing.

 We will hope for better luck today. Tom Scu is on board all five of our runners at Taunton. Colony Queen runs in the opening race on the card, a mares novices hurdle at 12.53pm. Our multiple flat winner is going in the right direction over hurdles and was going okay at the track on her last run before Tom felt something was amiss and he pulled her up. Thankfully she came back fine and we try again today over a slightly longer trip which should suit. She is about 11/1 in the betting and looks to have an each way chance.

American Sniper goes for his Hat-trick in the novices hurdle at 1.53pm. He has a double penalty to carry in a competitive looking race but he is a horse I like and I think he will run well. He has shown a great attitude in his two wins to date, including at course last time. He steps up in trip today which will suit and I think he is our best chance of a winner.

Bashful Boy runs in the two mile handicap hurdle at 2.53pn. The handicapper is slowly giving him a chance and he drops down in grade today. He is a big price but I thought he ran quite well last time out in a better race and the ground will be more to his liking today. While the trip maybe short enough on this tight track I thought he had a small each way chance.

Doyen La Lutte makes her second star over fences in the 3.23pm novices handicap chase. She ran okay on her seasonal reappearance at Ffos Las and will improve for the experience. Hopefully she can build on that today and run okay at odds of 12/1.

Our final runner on the Taunton card is Master Blaze in the concluding handicap hurdles. Our four year old is proving to be a bit of an enigma and needs to improve on what he has done so far. He ran well over course and distance over fences previously but needs to but a couple of disappointing efforts behind him to give members of the David Pipe Racing Club something to cheer about.

Over at Lingfield, Heure de Gloire is our first runner there with Philip Armson in the saddle in the 2.00pm handicap hurdle over 2 miles. The blinkers return today after leaving them off last time did not to the trick. She looks fairly weighted at the moments and won’t mind the track or ground. Hopefully she won’t be too far away. Duc De Beauchene runs in the following handicap chase over 2 miles with Adrian Heskin on board. The trip maybe shorter than ideal but he will love the testing conditions. After a below par effort last time our, hopefully he can take a step back the right direction this afternoon. Red Lion Lad runs in the final race of the day at Lingfield, a 2m6f handicap chase with Fergus Gillard on board. He can hopefully build on his course seasonal reappearance and show us all a bit more. Our Irish point to point winner goes better at home than he has shown on the racecourse thus far but with conditions in his favour, hopefully today he can show us his true colours. 

I saw a bunch of ants eating my chocolate bar on the kitchen counter. There is life on Mars! Have a good day.