Double at Taunton!

Johannes makes it a double for us at Taunton!
It was a good day for the yard yesterday with a double at Taunton with Activist and Johannes winning.  Activist was making a quick reappearance after winning at Plumpton on Monday but if anything, he put in a much better performance to win carrying a penalty yesterday.   Initially we weren’t thinking to run him again quickly, but he came out of that race so well that we decided to declare him again and see how he was.  It is funny what a win can do for a horses health and mental well-being, I do believe they know when they have won and he honestly was so happy in himself in the last couple of days and with Taunton just being down the road we decided to let him take his chance and we are glad we did! 

He probably travelled and jumped better than he did at Plumpton and won with his ears pricked again.  Having run at 2.05pm, he was back in his stable putting his feet up by 4pm!  He has no further entries at present, but there are some races at the end of next week where we could run him under a double penalty so we will see how he is in the coming days but it has been a great few days for our five year old and owner Lynne Maclennan.

Johannes won division two of the novices handicap hurdle to gain his first win over hurdles and in Britain.  This was his first run in a handicap off a rating of 89 and he got a nice weight allowance for being a four year old.  Jack was up with the pace throughout and while there was a slight moment of worry when he appeared to come off the bridle briefly mid-way down the back straight, he soon was back travelling strongly and was always just doing enough in front.  I’m sure this will have done his confidence the world of good and I am sure he can build on this going forwards.

Kingofthewest unfortunately got no further than the third fence when falling from an uncharacteristic error.  Placenet did not run well at Wetherby and look laboured.  Sometimes these French horses need time when they come over from France so just hope he is one of these.  Tough Approach stopped very quickly in his first try in a handicap and we know he is better than this, so not quite sure what happened but they are not machines!

We were due to have runners at two meetings today but unfortunately Ffos Las was abandoned following a course inspection yesterday afternoon.  We have two runners at Newbury, Sizing Pottsie and Man At Work.  Sizing Potties runs in the opening conditional jockeys handicap hurdle at 1.50pm and Gearoid Harney rides, he has run consistently all season and I think he will appreciate the step up in trip this afternoon.  He tackles 2m4f for just the second time for us today but he is a little older and more settled than he used to be in his races and I think that will help him be competitive today.  The more rain they get the better and I think he can outrun his odds of 20/1.

Man At Work runs in the final race of the day, a handicap hurdle over three miles at 4.45pm with Harry Cobden riding. Man At Work returns from a 455 day absence and has only had the two starts for us in novice hurdles.  He was an impressive winner on hurdling debut at Aintree beating some useful horses and then was disappointing in a Graded race after but he was found to be lame after that, which explained the below par run.  He has had wind surgery since and is in good form at home, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on.  I see the market has him has him as 5/2 favourite, but I am sure he will improve for the run.  It will be good to get him out and then return in one piece as he has lots of potential for the future.

Newbury is the sole jumps fixture today but we have two all-weather meetings at Lingfield and Newcastle.  In Ireland they race on the flat at Dundalk this evening.

How do you  make a water bed bouncier?

Use spring water!

Happy Friday!

      Activist after his win yesterday at Taunton!