Love the Jumps

  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 c...

  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 ...

  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...

  Cheltenham's two day Showcase meeting took centre stage this weekend, with racing from national hunts HQ starting on the Friday. here are a few stand out performances from the two days, firstly Galvin who took the 3m novice chase for Gordon Elliot and Robbie Power, he was a bit dubious with some of his early jumping but as the race progressed he found his rhythm and won impressively by 7 lengths. After he was installed as the favourite for the National Hunt Chase back at Cheltenham come March, hard to put anyone off but its a bit soon to be backing one for that race just now. The standout performance of the day went to Rouge Vif who won as easy as he liked, he travelled and jumped superbly taking up the lead with 4 to jump before putting in an inch perfect jump at the last before being eased down to win by 7 lengths. This performance saw him being quoted for the Champion Chase at 16/1, yes it was an impressive run, but I'd like to see him do it in graded company as he would...

  With Chepstow's two day meeting having just gone, this is now the time that the National Hunt racing starts to take centre stage. The meeting started with a winner for Paul Nicholls with Thyme White winning easily, he was the first of 8 winners across the two days for the former Champion trainer. The main event on Chepstow's race card was the Persian War Novices hurdle, once again going the way of team Ditcheat with McFabulous winning impressively and also getting my 10 to follow off to a flying start. He travelled and jumped well throughout the race beating Courtandbould buy 3 lengths but never had to be asked for his effort by Cobden, bookies have already cut him in price from 33/1 to 14s for the Stayers hurdle at Cheltenham come March, I'd like to see him out of novice company first before getting ahead of myself but he does look like he could be a potential star over the staying distances. The best finish at Chepstow on the Friday came in the veterans c...

  With what many see as the official start of the jumps season starting at Chepstow on Friday, now seems like the perfect time to have a sit down and pick out a few horses to follow this season. this year I have the added assistance of a couple of people to pick out a few horses each to follow. Hopefully the horses that are provided below can have a successful season and go onto big things. same as last year you can click on the horses name where it will take you to their Racing Post profile where you can add them to your tracker. Saint Sonnet (Paul Nicholls)   He arrived at Ditcheat from France where he made 8 starts winning 3 times over hurdles as well as winning his only start over fences. We didn't see him make his debut for Paul till late on in the season, he did this in late February at Catterick, he was sent off a short priced favourite and justified this winning easily in the end by nearly 4 lengths. Two weeks later he was running at Cheltenham...

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....