Love the Jumps

With the weather not getting any better more and more meetings got postponed due to bad racing conditions, luckily Kempton went ahead so thats where we will start. The Grade 2 Pendil Novices Chase, this saw Commanche Red go off favourite, he was looking to record back to back wins at Kempton after winning well on Boxing Day. Master Tommytucker led throughout the race jumping well, hoping to do better than he did last time here were he fell. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be the case as he fell once again when holding a 2 length lead, hampering Pistol Whipped in the process. Turning in for home with 3 to jump it was between Who Dares Wins and Southfield Stone , they were neck and neck up the run in, with Southfield Stone just having his grey head in front jumping the last. But it was Who Dares Wins who landed with the momentum and ran on well to win by 3/4s of a length. He’s been a brilliant horse for connections over the years having now won over fences as well as hurdles...

There wasn’t much racing this week with the weather getting the better of quite a few meetings, but we still had a couple go ahead on the weekend. There was a small field in the opener at Ascot, with the race looking to be between the unbeaten Sporting John and Master Debonair . In the end it was all about one horse, that being Sporting John , he tracked Master Debonair throughout the race who didn’t jump very fluently. Sporting John took up the lead 2 from home and quickly put the race to bed before being eased down. This for me was an impressive performance and will see him bang in the mix in the Ballymore at Cheltenham. Next was the Reynoldstown Novice Chase, this saw Sam Brown go off the favourite, but he like Pym who was 2nd in the market ended up being pulled up. In the end the race went the way of the Colin Tizzard trained Copperhead , he was always up with the race and travelling well, before taking up the lead 2 out before being ridden clear to win by 17 length...

After last weeks action packed weekend with the Dublin racing festival, this weeks racing was a little tame, but none the less we had some olde favourites on show at Newbury. We start with the first at Newbury and the 2m novice hurdle, this went the way of the short priced favourite in Chantry House . He was always in touch being just off the leaders, before Barry Geraghty made his move on him with 3 left to jump. He cruised upsides the long time leader Manvers Cross at the last before being pushed clear to go on and win easily. It was an impressive performance and he’s now as short as 8/1 for the Supreme and Ballymore at Cheltenham, he'd have to have a chance in either of them but I feel he may find one too good. It was also a nice performance from Manvers Cross in 2nd, he will definitely be getting off the mark in the near future.  Next was the Grade 2 Game Spirit Chase, which saw the return of Altior after losing his unbeaten record over obstacles. He was obviously...

The Dublin Racing Festival looked a cracking couple of days on paper and it didn’t disappoint, although we had a couple of non runners, this didn’t stop there being some great performances. First up we have the Grade 1 Novice hurdle over 2m6f, Fury Road went into the race as the unbeaten favourite. He chased the leaders throughout the race, before making a mistake at the 6th hurdle. He then was disputing 4th 2 from h ome with Elixir D’ainay , but neither of them were a match for the first 3 home. The winner was the Paul Nolan trained Latest Exhibition , he along with Longhouse Poet tracked the leader Cobbler’s Way . Cobbler’s Way  led till the last where he was passed by Longhouse Poet . Out of the 3 it Latest Exhibition stayed on the best in the run in to win by 2 lengths, with Cobbler’s   Way  just getting 2nd in the final strides. It was a good performance from Latest Exhibition , who came into the race with some nice form when beating Andy Durfresne a...

With Trials day being the last of the racing at Cheltenham before the main event in March, it’s always a day I look forward to. Gives trainers that one last chance to test their horses credentials around Prestbury Park before going on to the festival. We had some brilliant contests on paper and it’s safe to say that they didn’t disappoint. We will start with the Timeform Novices Handicap Chase, the race went the way of Simply The Bets for Harry Whittington and Gavin Sheehan. He disputed the lead for much of the race jumping well throughout, till he was headed 3 from home. He rallied well for Gavin before 2 out where he went back on to take the lead. He was then challenged by Imperial Aura who was only a length down jumping the last, but Simply The Bets stayed on better up the hill to eventually win by 1 3/4 lengths. It was a much better performance from Simply The Bets than when he last ran at Kempton, where his jumping let him down. It was also a good effort from Imperia...

Another quiet week but there was still some star performers who could well take centre stage at the festival. We will start at Ascot with the Juvenile hurdle, this saw the Gary Moore trained  Goshen go off 1/5 favourite, he led like he usually does till the 3rd flight of hurdles where he then swapped places with Manucci . This was unusual as on his previous two starts over hurdles Goshen has gone on and made all the running, this may well of been a change of tactics just to try something different with him and try to teach him to settle. He was being briefly niggled along before going clear 2 from home, at the final 2 hurdles he jumped out to his right which he had done in his previous starts, this didn’t stop him winning by 11 lengths in the end. He is currently joint 6/1 favourite for the Triumph hurdle at Cheltenham, but I’d be slightly worried about his jumping out to the right, although this could stop given a fast pace and a big field come March. Myself I’d still...

Wasn’t that much of a busy weeks racing but there was a few decent performances in England and over in Ireland. We will start at Kempton and with the Silviniaco Conti Chase, this was due to be Altior’s return to action after being beat by Cyrname , but he was eventually taken out the race which left his stablemate Top Notch the new favourite. It was close in the betting with money coming in for Frodon before the off, he eventually went off 5/4 2nd favourite. Frodon went off from the front like we know he likes to, he jumped well after from jumping out to his left at a few of the fences. He had to be pushed along by Bryony Frost approaching the last where after he was pressed by Keeper Hill . Frodon was always on top in the run in and found that little bit extra which saw him eventually win by 1 1/4 lengths. Top Notch was bitterly disappointing, finishing 3rd 7 lengths behind Keeper Hill, he didn’t travel into the race like you’d normally expect him to and eventually wea...