- Saturday, 28 April 2012 07:04
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Diamonds Return Winning at Plumpton
David has runners today at Sandown the last day of the jumps season. Don't worry though follks we start the new one tomorrow! It is a mixed jump and flat card this afternoon and I always remember Lord Oaksey saying it was one of the best days racing of the year. The day finishes with a jump versus flat jockeys flat race and this is always and interesting contest! Star of Angels, Arab League and The Pier all run in a competitve handicap hurdle and it will be a great experience for young Francis Hayes on board Arab League. He has won on this horse twice already this season and he takes a handy ten pounds off of his back and I think he could run better than his big price suggests. Dan Breen has a hard task in the Grade 2 Competitive chase but he has run well at this course before and stranger thinsg have happened! Wishful Thinking is probably the one they all have to beat in this race. Swing Bill runs in the big race of the day the Bet365 chase. He ran a great race last time out in the Grand National and gave his jockey that day, Conor O'Farrell, the biggest thrill of his life when having is first ride in the big race. He has a tough task this afternoon but rarely runs a bad race and Timmy Murohy is back in the saddle.
- Friday, 27 April 2012 06:58
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Ashkazar
David has runners at Chepstow and Plumpton this evening on the penultimate day of the National Hunt Season. However, Chepstow are holding an 11.30am inspection to see if racing can go ahead after 10mm of rain overnight and this morning have left some parts of the track vulnerable to waterlogging. Ashkazar and Decoy run in the 7.00pm handicap hurdle and Barton stacey runs in the last race, a maiden hurdle. It is interesting that Ashkazar goes back over hurdles as remember he was a very impressive winner over fences last time at Cheltenham. He has a lot of weight to concede to other runners in the race but he is very classy on his day so we will just have to see what happens. Decoy has to leave a couple of disappointnig runs behind him but if he does return to form he could be interesting off of a light weight. Meanwhile at Plumpton, Diamonds Return will try to follow up his Wincanton win of few days ago. Conor O'Farrell rides this one for his dad who owns him and he does have a good chance if acting on the slower going.
- Thursday, 26 April 2012 07:38
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
The Tracey Shuffle
At the moment there are five meetings left on for today, the flat at Beverley, Brighton and Wolverhampton and a jumps racing card at Perth. I am pleased to report that Punchestown goes ahead after an early morning inspection. David was due to have three runners at Uttoxeter this evening but the meeting was called off yesterday afternoon with a waterlogged track. Did anybody see the action from Punchestown yesterday? It ended up being a hurdle and bumper card and the Punchestown Gold Cup will now take place on Saturday. David's runner, Weekend Millionair ran a cracker to finish second in the handicap hurdle and got a good front running ride from our young conditional Tom Bellamy. He led all the way until approaching the last and kept battling on all the way to the line. The track had lots of water lying around and the horses seemed to be splashing through it okay. Let's just hope the rain eases off a little so we do not lose anymore fixtures this week. We have had another 14mm of rain at Pond House in the last 24 hours but it is fairly bright and not raining at the moment! David is due to have runners at Chepstow and Plumpton tomorrow and both meetings are hopeful of going ahead.
- Wednesday, 25 April 2012 07:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Weekend Millionair
Weather permitting, David has runners in Wales, Ireland and France today. Just keep an eye out ont he weather however as they are holding a 9.30am inspection at Hereford this morning to see if racing can go ahead. It certainly has rained a lot overnight, indeed we have had 25mm of rain at Pond House and everywhere is looking fairly soggy at the moment although it has eased off slighty as I am writing this! David has one runner at Hereford if racing goes ahead. Diamonds Return is looking to follow up his win at Wincanton on Sunday and Conor O'Farrell is once again in the saddle, riding for his father Seamus. Our young conditional Tom Bellamy has travelled over to Punchestown this morning and he is having his first ride over there on our runner in the 3.40pm race, Weekend Millionair. It will be a good experience for our young pilot and he was not without a chance as our gelding was an impressive winner at Ffos Las last time out. This is a fiercely competitive 28 runner handicap hurdle however so we will just have to see how he gets on.
- Tuesday, 24 April 2012 07:42
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
David has one runner today at Punchestown as we start day one of the Festival. War Singer runs in the 4.55pm handicap hurdle which looks very competitive and Tom Scudamore is in the saddle. David is currently on in way over to Ireland this morning and I am sure he will have a good couple of days whatever the results! The weather has claimed to fixtures in England today with both Newton Abbot and Folkestone being abandoned due to waterlogging. I live near Newton Abbot and we certainly have had a lot of rain in the last few days. I mean I have heard of April showers but yesterday must have been called April flooding! It is dry at the moment but we are forecast more rain later and tomorrows forecast looks very wet as well!
- Monday, 23 April 2012 07:04
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Problema Tic
What a great weekend for David and the stable with three winners which has brought up the century of winners for the season. Roi De Rose got a great ride from Conor O'Farrell to win at Bangor on Saturday. He seemed to be going the least well of the field in the race but in the final circuit he really came to life and ran out a very impressive winner. He certainly appears to have enjoyed the step up in trip to three miles in his last two races having won them both! Problema Tic was making his Pond House debut up at Ayr and he was another decisive winner for Scottish owners Sean and Josie Tracey. He jumped very well for Tom Scudamore and he looks a very nice buy from the Henderson team. It can always be a slight worry buying one from such a top yard but he certainly was impressive and on this form he can certainly win again. It was nearly a treble on Saturday when Enfant De Lune missed out narrowly in the opening race of the card at Ayr. Young conditional jockey Frank Hayes gave our recent Ffos Las winner a great ride and battled all the way to the line to finish a gallant second, only beaten a neck.
- Sunday, 22 April 2012 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
The stable has runners at Stratford and Wincanton this afternoon, and our stable sponor, Bathwick Tyres sponsors the whole card at Wincanton. The tracks rely on sponsorship to stage their fixtures and there are no better sponsors around than Bathwick Tyres - they have a runner at 3.10pm as Bathwick Man takes in the handicap hurdle. I am sure no-one would begrudge them winning some of their own money back!
