Taunton Runners

       Activist runs at Taunton Today

There are two jumps meetings today at Taunton and Market Rasen and we have five runners at our most local track, Taunton.  We were due to have a couple more but unfortunately we have had to make both Jurancon and Seymourjohn non-runners in the opening novices hurdle.  That leaves us with debutant, Jaipaletemps as our sole representative in this race at 1.25pm and Jack Tudor switches to ride.  He is a three time chase winner in France and has plenty of placed form over hurdles and he was claimed by his owners after finishing third over hurdles last time out at Cagnes-Sur-Mer.  He has settled in well to life in England and goes well enough at home so it will be interesting to see how he gets on.  He has won over the distance of 2m3f and while he may prefer the ground a little softer it should be fine.  He probably has a bit to find with the principles in this race on ratings but we will learn a bit more about him this afternoon.

First Lord Du Cuet and Castle Daragh run in the 2.25pm Arthur and Peggy White Memorial handicap chase.  They are both big prices in a competitive looking race but it is nice to be supporting this race run in memory of our former owners.  First Lord Du Cuet has yet to really fire this season and has the assistance of Conor O'Farrell in the saddle.  The handicapper is giving him a chance and he did run a little better last time so hopefully he can take another step forward today.  Castle Daragh is making his handicap chasing debut having won a point to point and a hunter chase a Chepstow last season.  Jack Tudor rides and even though he is the outsider of the field I thought he had a small each way chance.  He probably would prefer a more galloping track but he should be fine and he doesn't want the ground too soft.  As his form figures indicate he can be good or bad in his races but hopefully it will be a good day today as he does have the latent ability.

Activist runs in division 1 of the 2m3f handicap hurdle and Jack Tudor rides.  He won at Leicester on his seasonal reappearance and then ran well to be fourth at Hereford last time out.  He is second best in the betting and has one at the track before so I hope he has a good chance.  Kolisi runs in division two and needs to improve on what he has shown in recent starts.  He is a multiple winner but has not been in the same form since returning from a long absence through injury.  The handicapper is giving him some help but he would probably want the ground a little quicker than what he is going to encounter this afternoon.

There is one all-weather flat meeting today at Newcastle and no racing in Ireland.

I must say many congratulations to jockey Jack Tudor who rode his 50th winner of the season at Southwell yesterday.  This is the first time he has reached this milestone in his career and it is great we have been able to help him achieve it.  I hope he can go on to repeat this many more times as he is still very young!

Chelsea beat West Ham 2-1 in the football last night, their goals involved a bit of luck but as we all know, we need it sometimes!

Salons always have hair on the floor.

Garages always have oil on the floor.

Banks, what is your problem!

Have a great Tuesday!