- Sunday, 08 July 2012 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Gosh, with only two meetings scheduled for this afternoon, I hope they both beat the weather. Ayr host a flat card, while we will have three runners over the sticks at Market Rasen. With Newton Abbot abandoning their Monday meeting, Uttoxeter (Tuesday) unraceable at present due to waterlogging on the track and Worcester (Wednesday) already heavy in places and no other jumps fixtures scheduled for the remainder of the week, it could be the last jump racing that we have for a while.
- Saturday, 07 July 2012 07:08
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Despite the heavy rainfall, hopefully we will have some racing today. Amazingly both Haydock and Beverley have already passed morning inspections, while Sandown say that they should be fit to race. It is Coral Eclipse day at Sandown this afternoon and while the race may have lost some of it's lustre with the defection of the now retired So You Think, it is still one of the best races of the season and traditionally where the middle distance classic crop get to take on their elders so let's hope that it goes ahead without any problems.
- Friday, 06 July 2012 07:16
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It's a blank day on the jumping front and the flat meeting at Warwick has already had to be abandoned. The Met Office has issued an amber warning as they predict a month's worth of rain will fall over the next 24 hours in northern and central parts of England. That leaves racing from Sandown, Doncaster, Haydock and Beverley today, as well as action from Ireland at Bellewstown and Wexford - I see that two Irish cards are worth €59,000 and €67,000...over here only Sandown's card is worth more. Why is the prizemoney so much better over there?
- Thursday, 05 July 2012 07:10
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I thought that the stable was very unlucky not to record a double at Worcester yesterday afternoon. Qalinas appeared to be all over the winner of the conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle - he was drawing clear when overjumping at the second last and stumbling badly, losing all momentum. Tom Bellamy managed to stay on board despite losing an iron and managed to galvanise his mount who was closing on the winner all the way up the run-in - he couldn't quite get back up unfortunately and he looked to be a most unlucky loser. Decoy made no mistake in the following race as he jumped out to make all under Tom Scudamore - he had shown a good level of form when winnning at Cheltenham in November and this was much more akin to that effort. This was his first run for a couple of months so it could be that he is better when fresh, but I wouldn't be surprised if he were able to follow-up.
- Wednesday, 04 July 2012 07:18
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Sadly Chepstow did not manage to pass their 8am inspection this morning and have been forced to abandon their meeting, much as Perth did yesterday. It is a shame as I thought that David had found a reasonable opportunity for Raslan on the level. Nevertheless, we have three runners over the sticks at Worcester this afternoon - they are Qalinas in the boys' race and Decoy and Vertige Dore in the handicap hurdle. While the heavy ground should not inconvenience our runners, I would imagine that it will find out a few of those taking part this afternoon who are not used to such ground in July!
- Tuesday, 03 July 2012 06:55
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
- Monday, 02 July 2012 07:12
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It was good to see Camelot follow up his facile Epsom Derby success with victory in the Irish equivalent on Saturday afternoon at the Curragh. It was harder work this time around with Aidan O'Brien's colt having to dig deep to beat Born To Sea and there were certainly signs that his Epsom run and the softer ground had perhaps caught up with him. He will now be given a rest until the St Leger in September and may just have a racecourse gallop before running at Doncaster. If he were to be successful there, he would be the first colt to complete the Triple Crown since Nijinsky in 1970...that would be a fantastic achievement and would certainly add lustre to the beleaguered Classic.
