Quiet Day

                  First Lot Gallops

With the abandonment of Leicester due to waterlogging there are no runners from Pond House today. Paricolor and Sexy Lot were both due to be well on their way to the track by this time but are instead preparing for an exercise on our gallops this morning!  We have in fact declared Paricolor to run at Taunton tomorrow and Sexy Lot will now head to Wincanton next week instead.  With no Leicester, it means we are left with just one jumps meeting today at Hexham and two on the all-weather at Lingfield and Kempton.  In form jockey Conor O'Farrell heads to Hexham today for three rides and his best chance looks to be Cudgel in the 2.25pm handicap hurdle.  The horse actually won the corresponding race 12 months ago and won on his seasonal reappearance last time.  He looks to have a good chance today and is 4/1 second in the betting.

Yesterday Umbrigado made a pleasing chasing debut at Uttoxeter to finish second.  While we were perhaps hoping for a little more I think the winner is a very decent horse and had the previous chasing experience.  Our chap jumped very well before the other horse quickened away from him when they turned for home.  With this experience under his belt he should have little trouble in getting off the mark over fences shortly.  Meanwhile at Fontwell our runners found conditions pretty testing and all ran okay without troubling the judge.  Both Ranco and Sans Logique travelled and jumped well behind an easy winner before tiring late on, finishing third and fourth.  Both will probably appreciate a bit better underfoot conditions and a sharper 2 miles to be seen at best effect.  Shoot to Fame finished a respectable fourth in the mares novices hurdle.  This Irish point to point winning mare will probably appreciate a step up in trip in due course.  Orchard Thieves made a terrible mistake with just over a circuit to go in his race, I am not quite sure how he and David Noonan stayed on their feet!  This cost him valuable momentum and he found it difficult to get back involved in the race after this but he plugged on to get round and finish fourth in the end.

There is a unique opportunity to try and buy one of the best National Hunt mares ever seen tomorrow.  The wonderful Apple's Jade is being sold at the Goffs December National Hunt Sale.  She won 11 races at the highest level in her racing career and she is now being sold as a broodmare, I wonder how much she will make?  It seems like a great opportunity for someone to own this super mare.  She is lot 515 and I am sure there will be a lot of attention on her as she goes through the sales ring tomorrow.

Looking ahead to tomorrow also, we have two runners at local track Taunton, Paricolor and Mr Clarkson.  Check back here tomorrow for more stable news but in the meantime I hope you have a good day!