- Wednesday, 24 December 2014 12:44
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I normally play golf on Christmas Day, although with my bad shoulder that is out of the question. Some comedian even suggested that I could help with the Christmas dinner this year! I eat it...what more do they expect?! The television schedule looks as though it is filled with repeats, although I haven't yet found out when Mary Poppins is on (afterall, it is on every Christmas!). It's funny, I never realise how much I miss my racing until we don't have it for a few days - Mrs Barnes says that it takes up my entire life but that just isn't true...I have golf and football as well! Thinking about it, maybe she does have a point.
- Wednesday, 24 December 2014 08:26
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I have already been busy ploughing through the form books ahead of Boxing Day. With no fewer than eight jumps meetings taking place (as well as an all-weather card at Wolverhampton) it is going to take some doing! Stable jockey Tom Scudamore will be flying between meetings to ride at Wincanton before heading off to Kempton. Tom is very keen to get aboard easy Ascot winner Batavir who contests the 1.40pm race at Wincanton under a penalty before taking the ride aboard Dynaste in the King George VI Chase at Kempton and forecast favourite Alternatif in the 3.45pm race there. Apparently it takes 36 minutes to fly between the tracks so, with a strong book of rides it could be a profitable afternoon for Scu and the Pond House team. Batavir (pictured above) is my idea of a late Christmas present, let's hope that Santa thinks I have been a suitably good boy this year!
- Tuesday, 23 December 2014 08:16
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Even though there is no racing now until Boxing Day, life around the stable still goes on very much as normal. With 100 or so horses around the place that need to be looked after as well as exercised there is plenty for the staff to be doing. Meanwhile, David will also be mulling over who runs where over the Festive season - there are eight meetings with declarations closing today and the stable has entries at six of them! When he has finished with his running plans, David then needs to sort out which jockeys will be riding where (and there is often a shortage of jockeys on a Bank Holiday) and finally when all that is decided, arrangements need to be made to transport the horses to the races and the logistics of getting to multiple meetings is an art in itself. To the casual racegoer who opens their racecard on Boxing Day they will give little thought to what has gone into getting these horses to the races and the work involved behind the scenes.
- Monday, 22 December 2014 08:50
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There was another nice winner for the yard on Saturday when Broadway Buffalo (pictured above) was the ready winner of the Tommy Whittle chase at Haydock on Saturday. I thought that Conor O'Farrell gave him a fantastic ride, dropping him out at the back and putting him to sleep - in fact, he never even put him in the race until approaching the last and when he finally did ask him for his effort the race was over in a matter of strides. Conor is one of the most laid back individuals you are ever likely to meet and this ride typified him to perfection. Meanwhile, Taj Badalandabad ran okay on his handicap debut to finish fourth, although I just wonder whether the bottomless ground may have found him out?
- Saturday, 20 December 2014 13:11
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
With only four days to go until Christmas there are only two meetings taking place today over the sticks from Fakenham and Lingfield and the stable does not have any runners. Stable jockey Tom Scudamore makes the journey to Lingfield where he has three outside rides so I will be cheering him on as he closes on his seasonal ton. Indeed, with Bangor on Monday being the final jump meeting before Christmas and the stable far from certain to have runners there, our next racecourse representatives could be on Boxing Day...and what a prospect that is!
- Saturday, 20 December 2014 08:59
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There was a very good performance from Batavir yesterday to land the 2m6f handicap hurdle at Ascot in decisive fashion under A P McCoy. The step up in trip paired with a first time tongue tie seemed to be the answer and that fellow McCoy isn't bad in the saddle either, I reckon he could make a name for himself! Let's hope that David is able to find another race for him on Boxing Day where he can compete under a penalty as he could be facing a hike in the weights from the handicapper. Meanwhile at the other meeting All Force Majeure finished fourth in the bumper at Uttoxeter - he had a penalty for his Worcester success and appeared to get stuck in the mud, these were certainly very different conditions to his debut. He still looked very green and will continue to improve with experience.
- Friday, 19 December 2014 08:33
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with two over the sticks at Ascot and Uttoxeter supported by a couple of all-weather flat cards from Southwell and Wolverhampton. The stable has runners at both jumps meetings - Qalinas and All Force Majeure at Uttoxeter and Batavir at Ascot. Conditional jockey Michael Heard is aboard Qalinas for his seasonal debut, while Tom Scudamore rides Worcester bumper winner All Force Majeure (pictured above). Meanwhile Batavir is partnered by a certain A P McCoy - I am sure I have heard of him somewhere before! A P's strike rate for the yard is quite impressive - it currently stands at 50%, so let's hope he can improve on that again today. Having finished third over the minimum trip at Leicester on his debut for the stable, Batavir takes a step up in trip which looks sure to suit.
