The_Pier__Palace_Jester

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon, two over the sticks at Wincanton and Carlisle as well as all-weather flat meetings at Southwell and Wolverhampton.  The stable has four runners at Wincanton, Royal Peak, Palace Jester, The Pier and Hugo Drax.  As per usual the bookies are giving very little away - Royal Peak who was an 80/1 chance the last time he was seen on a racecourse has either been found a very weak race or the bookies are afraid of him on his handicap debut...they certainly won't be running for cover at odds of around 3/1 today!  Meanwhile former useful hurdler Palace Jester makes his debut for the yard this afternoon on his first start in almost a year and it will be interesting to see how he gets on.  Pictured above are Palace Jester (left) and The Pier (right) on the gallops.

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Weekend_Millionair_Ffos_Las_web

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon at Fontwell and Catterick over the sticks, and Lingfield and Kempton on the all-weather.  Weekend Millionair (pictured above) and Hidden Discounts are the two runners from the yard at Fontwell and will Tom Scudamore takes the mount aboard both.  Watching the racing from Exeter yesterday I was interested to see the ground was officially good (good/soft in places), but if you looked through the times there didn't appear to be much in the way of good ground.  Most races were in the region of 30 seconds outside of the standard time, while the Devon National was over 45 seconds slow!

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Leader_of_the_Gang__Franklin_Roosevelt

*Leader Of The Gang - N/R 4.30 Exeter*

Today there are three meetings taking place with two over jumps at Exeter and Newcastle as well as an all-weather flat card at Southwell.  The stable has a couple of runners, Henok and Leader Of The Gang (pictured above, left) at Exeter providing the fog lifts - it has been dense around the yard this morning and I am sure you have heard how exposed and open to the elements Exeter is up on Haldon Hill.  The ground is certainly drying out very quickly although I know there is some rain due for the end of the week...I just hope that they don't overwater for the Cheltenham Festival which starts in a week's time.

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Weekend_Millionair

Although we drew a blank at Newbury on Saturday, I thought there were still a couple of creditable efforts in defeat.  In particular Water Garden ran well to finish runner-up to Buck Magic in the three mile handicap hurdle under young Tom Bellamy.  It's a shame that the starter didn't let them go first time as Buck Magic would have been left behind!  Still, this was a good effort and I'm sure he will be winning again before too long.  The Pier also performed with credit, finishing fourth over two miles and he looks as though he will benefit from a slight step-up in trip.

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Bottom_of_gallops

Today there are just two meetings, both over the sticks at Huntingdon and Sedgefield.  The stable has no runners but it is still a very busy time with just over a week to go until Cheltenham.  We do have some local action in the point to point field however with a few of our jockeys in action at Kingston St Mary, near Taunton.  The head lads son young Kieren Buckley is having his second ride.  Kieren is still at school but rides out at Pond House at weekends, good luck Kieren!

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Garynella__Diamonds_Return

                Garynella (n/side)

Today there are four meetings on around the country.  There are three over the sticks at Doncaster, Newbury and Kelso and a flat card at Lingfield.  The big race at Newbury today is the £50,000 Greatwood Gold Cup at 3.50pm.  David runs French recruit Garynella in the race on 10st2lb and Tom Scu rides.  Our six year old ran well at Cheltenham on his British debut over 2 miles and has had a little break since then and we are hoping he runs well off his light weight stepping up in distance.  There is also a £50,000 race at Doncaster this afternoon, the 2.55pm Grimthorpe chase and not to be outdone there is a £30,000 novice hurdle and a £20,000 Listed chase at Kelso!  There is lots of prize money on offer around the the country today and some good competitive action to watch.  What is amazing is that even after all the rain we have been having over the last few months the going at Doncaster is good and at Newbury it is only good to soft, where does all the water go?!

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Sir_Frank_Huntingdon_2nd

There are four meetings this afternoon with jump racing action coming from Doncaster and Newbury and all-weather flat meetings at Lingfield and Wolverhampton.  The stable has four runners at Newbury this afternoon - SIr Frank, Bladoun, Off The Wall and Midnight Tuesday.  Sir Frank (pictured above) looks interesting in the novices' chase having run a good race in defeat at Huntingdon last time out. Young conditional jockey Kieron Edgar keeps the ride and claims a handy 7lbs off his back.

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