Eve Of The Festival!

Paricolor Runs at Plumpton today!

On the eve of the Cheltenham Festival we have two runners today, Paricolor at Plumpton and Sidi Ismael a little closer to home at Taunton. Paricolor runs in the 3.00pm handicap hurdle over 2m4f with Philip Armson on board. It is a drop back in distance today but that won’t be a problem but he does have to bounce back from a below par performance last time at Doncaster. Nothing came to light from that run but it may have been simply that he got a little tired after helping to set quite a strong pace. The handicapper is relenting with his handicap mark a little and hopefully he can run well today at an out 7/1.

Sidi Ismael is another who must put a disappointing effort last time behind him. He’d had a pretty good season up until that point but literally never went a yard last time. He returns to fences today with Fergus Gillard back on board and the pair ran well in the Sussex National when they last paired up. He runs in the 3.25pm chase and the 3m4f trip around this course looks ideal and the blinkers are back on to sharpen him up. We have been doing all sorts with him at home since he last ran and he has been out with the hounds a few times. At about 9/1 I think he will run well.

On Saturday our two horses both ran well at Sandown. I thought Make Me A Believer improved on his chasing debut of 3 months ago, travelling and jumping well before getting a little tired from two out. He has not been the easiest to train at home and we just really hope he comes out of this race okay so he can run again in 2-3weeks time from which I think we will see even more improvement from him. The initial signs are good so fingers crossed!! Eden Du Houx ran a cracker to be second. His profile is a little in and out but this was a terrific performance and he powered up the Sandown hill and might well have won in another couple of strides. A mid race mistake put him on the back foot a little but you could not fault his attitude when Fergus Gillard asked him for more and responded to every urging. He loves the mud and on this evidence there is another nice prize in him.

Day one Cheltenham Festival Declarations were done yesterday and we have two runners tomorow in the Ultima handicap chase. Remastered with David Noonan on board and Iceo Madrik with Jack Tudor in the saddle. This morning we declare for Wednesday and the plan is to run Sizing Pottsie in the Grand Annual with Jack Tudor on board.

I went to Ottery St Mary point to point where Martin Fly McIntyre and Gearoid Harney were in action. Fly had lots of rides and lots of placings but sadly no winners, Gearoid was unplaced on his ride but there was some good competitive action. A special mention goes to Finn Buckley for riding his first winner. Youngest son of Eddie and Sarah Buckley who both used to work at Pond House and brother to Keiran and Tom who are both doing well as conditional jockeys.

There were wins at the top of the Premiership table over the weekend for both Arsenal and Man City while Manchester United lost more ground with a 0-0 draw at home to Southampton.

We don’t talk about the rugby too much but there are lots of happy Irish people in work this morning with some very quiet Scottish and English - enough said!!

I hate spelling errors. You mix up 2 letter and your whole post is urined!! Happy Monday!!