- Tuesday, 13 August 2013 06:54
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I am thrilled that we are back with some National Hunt racing this afternoon for the first time in over a week - there are two jumps fixtures at Worcester and Stratford and the stable is represented by two runners (Basil Fawlty and Royal Peak) at Stratford. Royal Peak (pictured above) was an impressive winner here twelve days ago and the handicapper has reacted by putting the gelding up by a whopping 15lbs which seems a little harsh to me. Theoretically it is the handicapper's job to try to get the runners to all finish in a line although that sort of rise looks like overkill to me. The two meetings on the flat take place at Carlisle and Nottingham.
- Monday, 12 August 2013 07:11
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There are four flat cards to keep us entertained this afternoon at Ayr, Thirsk, Wolverhampton and Windsor, while there is also a mixed card in Ireland at Ballinrobe which also (unsurprisingly) has by far the most prize money on offer. The stable has two runners on the level at Windsor this evening - Purple 'N Gold and Togiak both run in the 1m2f handicap at 7.40pm. Purple 'N Gold (pictured above) has been in good form since being claimed having won on the level and also over hurdles at Uttoxeter - he certainly looks like a shrewd purchase. James Doyle takes the ride this evening while Cathy Gannon is aboard Togiak.
- Sunday, 11 August 2013 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Day seven of our jump racing sabatical and with National Hunt fixtures at Stratford and Worcester planned for Tuesday, the wait is nearly over. Just as well as I am having serious withdrawal symptons! Anyway, today there are just two flat meetings at Leicester and Windsor - when it comes to Windsor, the first thing that I do is have a look through the card to see what Richard Hughes and Richard Hannon have running. They are normally the pair to follow at that track (as they are at plenty of other tracks as well!). If you get a nice, sunny day Windsor by the Thames is one of the nicest places you could be.
- Saturday, 10 August 2013 07:23
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It's a busy day of action on the flat with meetings taking place at Haydock, Ascot, Newmarket, Redcar, Ayr and Lingfield. Ascot hosts their Shergar Cup fixture and while I'm not sure it means an awful lot to your average betting shop punter, if it raises the profile of horse racing in this country it has to be a good thing. I'm still not sure they have got it right when it comes to the colours - all very similar designs and in only a handful of team colours. I would imagine that it would be very confusing for the first time viewer - God knows, it is hard enough to follow for me!
- Friday, 09 August 2013 07:09
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Day five of the jumps racing sabatical so there is light at the end of the tunnel! For our amusement today we have five flat meetings from Musselburgh, Brighton, Lingfield, Newmarket and Haydock. I'm not quite sure why there are afternoon meetings at Lingfield and Brighton - they are not far apart and will certainly be taking custom from one another...another victory for race planning. Furthermore, the prize money over here is disappointing once again - Lingfield offer £25,000 across seven races, while Tipperary has £128,000 up for grabs - racecourses beware, it's not that long a way to Tipperary!
- Thursday, 08 August 2013 07:10
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Day 4 of our jump racing sabatical and we have six meetings on the level to bring you this afternoon from Haydock, Brighton, Yarmouth, Sandown, Southwell and Chepstow. Unsurprisingly, despite the amount of action on offer on these shores the most prize money on offer today comes from the two Irish meetings at Leopardstown and Sligo - the meeting at Sligo is a jumps card and even that has more money on offer than any of our flat fixtures! Two of the races at Chepstow are worth less than £2,000 and by the time you take expenses into account there wouldn't be much left over for the poor owner...mind you someone has to keep these poor racecourses going.
- Wednesday, 07 August 2013 07:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It's day three of our jumps break so we have flat cards at Brighton, Pontefract, Newcastle, Kempton and Yarmouth to keep us amused. As David mentioned in his blog last week - what is the point in this disjointed summer calendar? Why not have a distinct break between the start and finish of the jumps season rather than a week off in August and another week off in September? It is all very start-stop, but just to add a bit of spice to the mix there has been an additional jumps fixture at Stratford added right in the middle of the September break on 17th September! I would really love to ask the race planning people how and why they come up with some of the fixtures they do...this one is just the latest in a long line of head scratchers. Jockey Aidan Coleman was considering taking a break but has had to cancel any such plans - why don't the BHA pay more attention to what the jockeys have to say?
