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10 Horses to Follow

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  With Chepstow just around the corner and the winter jumps horses starting to make their seasonal appearances again, now seems like the time to pick out a few horses to follow for the upcoming season. Last season we managed to pick out a few Grade 1 winners, those being Chantry House who won the Marsh Novices’ Chase and Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham and Aintree. Allmankind who picked up The Henry VIII Novices’ Chase as well as 2 Grade 2s. Finally Thyme Hill who took the Stayers Hurdle at Aintree and the Grade 2 Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury. Hopefully this years selections can prove to be just as good in graded company, as usual you can click on the horses name where you’ll be redirected to their profile on the Racing Post. My Drogo: Rated 155, Form: 21111 (Dan Skelton) Beaten in just 1 of his 5 starts, which came in his only bumper run, where he finished 2nd at 50/1 to another horse to follow in I Am Maximus . He was then switched to hurdling, where he remained unbeaten, ta

Cheltenham International Meeting

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This weekend we had the final meeting of the year at Cheltenham, this being the International meeting, for me it was not up to the usual quality that you have on a Cheltenham card, but there were still some nice performances over the 2 days. Firstly, Happygolucky won the Novices chase taking him to 2/3 this season over fences, he jumped well before making a mistake 3 out but this did not stop him as he took up the lead before 2 from home going clear. There is no doubt we will probably see him back at her for the festival in March but just depends what race they aim him for, I myself do not think he would have the class for a RSA, so he could quite possibly end up in the National Hunt chase for which he is the current 3 rd fav. The standout race on the Friday was the rescheduled Peterborough chase, the race saw Kalashnikov just sent off the favourite after a nice reappearance run over hurdles at Haydock, he ran a nice race and travelled well for most of it, but it was his jumping tha

Sandown Tingle Creek Meeting

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It was great to see fans back at Sandown for the Tingle Creek meeting even if I couldn’t attend due to being in tier 3, but I’m pretty sure they wouldnt of been dissapointed in the racing that they saw. We will jump straight into the first Grade 1 which was the Henry VIII Novices Chase, it was a competitive field, with all five of the runners going into the race unbeaten over the larger obstacles, three of the five runners were 4 year olds and it was those three that filled the first three home. The race went the way of Allmankind , which was another winner for the 10 to follow making it 8 wins from 15 runs. He raced the only way he knows, going from the front and making all, he jumped out to his left on occasions with Dan Skelton saying after the race they expected that. He had a 4-5 length lead coming out of the railway fences with Harry Cobden and Hitman  in pursuit. With the pond fence being omitted he only had two fences to jump in the straight, which he jumped well when the press

Ladbrokes Winter Carnival

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  We will start off at Newbury on the Friday which was day one of the 2 day Winter Carnival, the first race was a maiden hurdle which saw the eagerly awaited jumps debut of Flinteur Sacre , he was sent off a short priced favourite which was always gonna be the case considering his reputation and connections. From the start he never really looked comfortable, he was always keen and put in a few dodgy jumps, and ultimately when push came to shove he wasn’t good enough on the day and could only finish 4th beaten 7 lengths. In the end the winner was My Drogo for the Skeltons who came into the race after finishing 2nd at 50/1 in a Cheltenham bumper a couple of months ago. He himself also put in a few iffy jumps, but approaching the last hurdle he was the one travelling the best and when Harry asked him to go seal the race he did impressively staying on strongly in the run in. Obviously people will crab the form with there being a 200/1 shot in second, but for me he looks like he could be a

Betfair Chase weekend

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  With the Betfair Chase taking centre stage this weekend it seems like Haydock is the right place to start, we will start with the Graduation Chase which saw Master Tommytucker record his 2nd win over fences this season. He made all and jumped really well throughout never looking in any trouble at all and going on to win by 15 lengths from Good Boy Bobby , the funny thing is for a horse that falls a fair bit he’s a pretty good jumper, could this season be the one that we finally see the best of him?. Next the Stayers Handicap Hurdle, this went the way of the David Pipe trained Main Fact who in winning this made it 9 wins on the bounce, he won it really well being held up towards the start before making smooth headway only to lead in the final stages but ultimately winning going away. His record on soft and heavy going speaks for itself so he will be one to keep an eye on if the ground is testing on next appearance. Two that I think ran decent races were West To The Bridge who came

Look back at the November meeting.

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  The 3 day November meeting got underway on the Friday and the performance of the day was without a doubt that of  Protektorat for the Skeltons in the Novices' chase, he made all and delivered a spectacular round of jumping. At one stage in the race before turning for home it looked like Southfield Stone was travelling the better of the two, but as soon as Harry Skelton asked him to kick on the race was over, it was just a matter of getting over the last 2 fences. He's being quoted at 25/1 for the Marsh Chase back at Cheltenham in March, stranger things have happened and course form is key, so I will be looking forward to seeing if he can back this race up again when put up in grade although if he does that 25/1 won’t last long. Also on the Friday there was the Cross Country chase and the rematch from March of Easysland and Tiger Roll , unfortunately it wasn't what we was all hoping for with them both being beat,  Tiger Roll being the bigger disappointment, he never we

Roksana and Cyrname Sparkle

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  There was some terrific racing this weekend from here and over in Ireland, we will start with a look back at the 2 day meeting from Down Royal which started on the Friday. As usual it was a great meeting for Gordon Elliot who managed to win 8 of the races across the 2 days, his first one being Farouk D'alene who won in easy fashion as he was entitled to, unfortunately his next 2 runners couldn't get their heads in front. the first one was Queens Brook in the mares novice hurdle, who was beat a head by Skyace , Queens Brook travelled well and took the lead over the last, but Skyace just managed to do her close to home. The next race was the Grade 2 WKD hurdle which saw Abacadabras sent off the odds on favourite as he started his Champion Hurdle campaign, he travelled well and came there with every chance with 2 hurdles to jump, but had nothing to offer when really asked for his effort to go and catch the all the way winner who was Aspire Tower . I'd say that Gordon wi