- Tuesday, 27 December 2011 08:19
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
What a great day's Racing we were treated to at Kempton yesterday afternoon with Kauto Star recording an amazing fifth success in the King George VI Chase - I doubt we will ever see another horse achieve that in our lifetimes. Having said that, what about Grands Crus who won his race over an identical trip (albeit carrying 3lbs less) by almost three seconds. A racehorse in full cry can travel quite a long way in three seconds so this was clearly some performance from a novice on only his third start over fences. It is difficult to know how good could he be as to me he looked to be idling a little in front and certainly wasn't fully exerted.
- Monday, 26 December 2011 08:29
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Well I hope you all enjoyed a fantastic Christmas day and ate and drank plenty like I did?! As much as I like Christmas day itself I do like Boxing day even more! It looks a cracking days racing with nine meetings in this country and three in Ireland. The yard has plenty of runners and we are even over in Ireland with one runner today, Notus De La Tour. Notus is ridden by Robbie Power and although it is a competitive race he is in good form, he will love the ground and we are hoping for a good run. I spoke to our lorry over there this morning and they had a good journey across on Saturday and have been looked after very well by Leopardstown and have enjoyed a great Christmas day! There is some fantastic racing action to look forward to at Kempton and Grands Crus seems very well at home and we are looking forward to seeing him in action in the Feltham Novice's chase at 2.00pm. It is a very competitive race with Bobsworth and Silviniaco Conti both high class performers so fingers crossed for a great contest with our super grey coming out on top!
- Sunday, 25 December 2011 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Well, it's Christmas Day and I hope that Father Christmas (or maybe one of his helpers pictured above) has bought you everything that you wanted. As for me, I will settle for a few winners for the yard over the festive period...we should have some decent chances with no fewer than fourteen runners tomorrow across five meetings in this country, as well as at Leopardstown over in Ireland.
- Saturday, 24 December 2011 07:42
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Although there is no racing on until Boxing Day, it is still all go at the stables. All horses still need feeding, mucking out, grooming and riding out so there will be plenty of staff in over the festive period. David will be planning the travel arrangements for the five Boxing Day meetings, as well as our Irish runners. The owners will all be keen to run and will doubtless take family and friends. At the moment it looks as though most of the meetings will get the go ahead - the biggest threat this year would appear to be the rain rather than freezing conditions that blighted our winter last season.
- Friday, 23 December 2011 08:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
There is no racing in this country today, so for a bit of Christmas action on the television we have to rely on Dundalk and Meydan. I see that there are plenty of English based jockeys over at Meydan at present (Richard Hills, Richard Mullen, James Doyle & Ted Durcan to name but a few) and I suppose they will be taking more rides there over the coming months. I can't say that I blame them - at least they will be keeping nice and warm over Christmas. Over in Ireland they are racing on the all-weather - it is amazing how much better funded their all-weather racing is compared to on these shores.
- Thursday, 22 December 2011 08:16
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
It was a good day for the stable yesterday with a brace of winners at Ffos Las. All eyes were certainly on Gevrey Chambertin in the closing bumper and our full brother to Grands Crus did not disappoint, winning by 30 lengths. With his illustrious relations, he has plenty to live up to although you couldn't fail to be impressed by the manner of victory on his racecourse debut. I doubt whether the beaten horses are a great bunch and heavy ground can often exagerate winning margins, but he is clearly a very smart prospect and the bookies obviously agree - Victor Chandler have installed him as their second favourite for the Festival Bumper at 14/1.
- Wednesday, 21 December 2011 08:30
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
All eyes focus on Ffos Las this afternoon for our final runners this side of Christmas. We have six runners at the Welsh track this afternoon and I notice that three of them are forecast to go off favourite according to the Racing Post. Kazlian showed a good level of form on the flat in France and was runner-up on his hurdling debut at Market Rasen, while Ashbrittle makes his hurdling debut this afternoon. He was a decent stayer on the flat and looks the type to make up into a nice hurdler. The one that really catches the eye however is Gevrey Chambertin - the full brother to the stable's top class hurdler/chaser Grands Crus who makes his racecourse debut in the closing bumper. He was purchased from the French Sales back in the summer and it will certainly be interesting to see how he fares.
