Love the Jumps

We will jump right into the first race on day 3, this was the Marsh Novices Chase. The race lost one of its key protagonists at the 6th fence when Itchy Feet unseated Gavin Sheehan, Faugheen took the field along till Melon and Patrick Mullins took up the running. He led all the way round till the turn for home where a smooth travelling Samcro took a narrow lead, jumping 2 out Samcro made a mistake handing the advantage back to Melon . Melon jumped the last just in front with Samcro landing level with him as the 2 of them set off up the hill being chased home by Faugheen . The 2 of them flashed past the post together with a phot being called, resulting in Samcro winning by a nose. It was good to see Faugheen out there enjoying himself, he just didn’t seem to have the legs to get to the front 2 on the way home. You’ve got to feel for Melon though, thats the 4th time he’s finished 2nd at the festival, 2nd in the Supreme and twice runner up in the Champion Hurdle now this....

Well the 4 days of jumps racing that we all look forward to which seems an age to come around, is over and done with for another year. As expected there was some highs and lows which we will touch on here. At one stage we didn’t know if we would even get the festival on due to the Coronavirus, but we did, so without further ado let’s start looking back at the best 4 days in the racing Calendar. We start with the Supreme Novices Hurdle. Asterion Forlonge went off favourite in the end and it was he that made the running, he jumped right like he has had a tendency to do, none so more than 2 from home were he jumped violently out to his right bumping into Elixir D’ainay , who fell and brought down Captain Guinness who was travelling well at the time. During that Shishkin and Abacadabras had only just managed to stay out of harms way. Approaching the final flight it was Abacadabras that looked to be going the better of the 2, but it was the Henderson trained Shishkin that m...

With Cheltenham now being just over a week away the racing takes a dip in quality but there was still some nice performances in testing conditions this weekend. We start at Doncaster, with the 2m handicap chase. The race revolved all around one horse, Gino Trail who was making his first start for Fergal O’Brien. He went from the front like he always does jumping for fun, made a mistake at the 8th but that didn’t stop him. The favourite Dolos who was held up by Harry Cobden made progress through the field before ultimately having nothing more to give on the ground. This left Gino Trail to go on and win well from Katpoli by 3 3/4 lengths. Next at Doncaster was the Mares novice hurdle, the Nicholls trainer Cill Anna was sent off a short priced favourite and was looking for her 3rd win over hurdles. It wasn’t easy for her in those racing conditions of the heavy ground and the strong winds. She travelled well joining the leader Ziggy Rose at 2 out, the pair of them had a ...

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...