- Thursday, 14 January 2016 08:35
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
As if all the rain wasn't enough to dampen the spirits, it isn't half getting cold as well! Looking at the forecast it is only going to get chillier too - I would imagine that some of the tracks are starting to panic ahead of their next fixtures. Today we have three meetings taking place, a jumps card from Catterick as well as two all weather flat fixtures from Southwell and Chelmsford City. The stable has no runners this afternoon although stable jockey Tom Scudamore makes the long journey north for a couple of rides at Catterick, the best of which would appear to be Nail 'm in the 2.50pm race. Of our runners yesterday I thought that Miss Gotaway ran a promising first race under rules to finish third and there definitely looks to be a similar contest in her, perhaps on slightly better ground while Top Wood finished fourth and looks as though he could do with dropping in the weights a bit.
- Wednesday, 13 January 2016 08:29
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Today there are three meetings taking place with a jumps card from our local track at Taunton as well as a couple of all-weather flat fixtures from Chelmsford City and Kempton. David has four runners at Taunton; Miss Gotaway, Junior Package, Top Wood and My Brother Sylvest. Miss Gotaway makes her debut for the stable this afternoon having done very well in point-to-points, winning three times last season. She will need to jump better than when disappointing in a Cheltenham Hunters Chase but is working well at home. Junior Package is going to need to improve significantly to figure, while Top Wood would have sound claims if repeating his good Chepstow second last time out. My Brother Sylvest (pictured above) hasn't won since 2013 and could probably do with quicker ground and some respite from the handicapper.
- Tuesday, 12 January 2016 08:14
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
There are just two meetings taking place this afternoon but at least one of them is a jumps card! The action comes from Ludlow over the sticks while there is also an all-weather flat fixture from Lingfield. David has three runners at Ludlow; The Minkle, Baraka de Thaix and Doctor Harper. The Minkle would need to improve on what he has shown thus far and looks to have it to do to turn over odds-on favourite The Gipper. Baraka de Thaix is forecast favourite for the maiden hurdle at 2.30pm and on the best of his form he would take plenty of beating, although he has been inclined to throw in the odd disappointing effort. Doctor Harper takes in the novices' chase and he was a very decent hurdler a couple of seasons ago - he will like the ground but looks up against it with Garde la Victoire in opposition, even if we are in receipt of 10lbs.
- Monday, 11 January 2016 08:28
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
I was amused to see former jump jockey turned television pundit Mick Fitzgerald finish runner-up on Celebrity Mastermind on Saturday. It was a good effort from Fitzy who picked up £3,000 for the Injured Jockeys' Fund and then promptly nominated Tom Scudamore as somebody else who would do well on the show. I must be missing something with Tom...I will be throwing a few questions his way the next time I see him!
- Saturday, 09 January 2016 09:29
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Well it is certainly going to be a quiet day with just one all-weather flat meeting taking place at Southwell. If you are missing a bit of jumps action there is a good card taking place at Fairyhouse in Ireland this afternoon with a £100,000 handicap chase at 2.20pm. The meeting is covered by Attheraces so I will be watching that while flicking between football matches - Mrs Barnes will be pleased to hear that! I wonder why the BHA didn't try to put on one of those all-weather jumps cards - they do not take long to organise and quite a few trainers would like to give their horses a good blow-out.
- Saturday, 09 January 2016 08:13
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Well today we hopefully have three meetings with jump action set to take place from Chepstow and Kempton while there is an all-weather flat meeting at Lingfield. Given the rain we have had down this way, I still can't believe that Chepstow is going to get the go ahead - there will certainly be some slow motion finishes! Tom Scudamore goes to Kempton where he partners Balgarry, Dell' Arca, Poole Master and Stars Over The Sea. Meanwhile David Noonan comes in for the mount aboard last time out winner Gevrey Chambertin in the 2m7 1/2f handicap hurdle at Chepstow and he claims a handy 5lbs off his back which could prove beneficial as that trip is going to take some getting on extremely testing ground. I did have a look at the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton and I thought that Dell' Arca looked to have sound claims although Bivouac looks likely to go well from the Henderson camp, while I thought that the sharp nature of the track would suit a front runner such as Balgarry in the 2m2f handicap chase.
- Friday, 08 January 2016 09:00
- Written by Chelsea Morgan
Today we have three meetings taking place with a jumps card from Doncaster as well as a couple of all-weather flat meetings from Lingfield and Wolverhampton. David has no runners this afternoon although stable jockey Tom Scudamore heads to Doncaster for two rides and they both appear to hold solid chances. Meanwhile it was good to see eleven year old Sunny Legend winning at Towcester yesterday afternoon - it was his first success in over two years and just goes to show that some of us oldies still have a bit of life left in us!
