Gloire Wins Leicester!

       Heure De Gloire Wins Leicester

It was great to get a nice winner at Leicester yesterday with Heure De Gloire under Tom Scu. It was a deserved first success of the season for our mare who has been very consistent and has been placed several times but just not been able to get her head in front thus far.  Tom gave her a nice front running ride and she quickened clear from the rest from two out.  She won quite cosily in the end but hopefully the handicapper won’t overreact.  She is a strong stayer over two miles and the heavier the ground the better.  It was lovely for her owner Jane Cunningham who sadly lost her son last year.

First Lord Du Cuet ran another good race but finished second again – his favourite finishing position – he had now finished second in his last five outings!  He never does anything wrong but just always seem to bump into one!  From 18 career starts he has won three times, been placed second 11 times, finished third once and fourth once, not a bad record to be finishing in the frame 16 times out of 18! American Sniper disappointed at Leicester but did not enjoy the testing conditions.  The others need a bit of help from the handicapper and I am sure they can be improving in their next runs.

Today we have runners at three meetings, including one on the flat at Southwell, Colony Queen.  She runs in the 1m4f apprentice handicap at 3.25pm with Laura Pearson on board.  She is about a 14/1 chance in this competitive looking race but she does have a very good record on the level, winning ten races from 23 starts.  I am not sure quite what to expect today but hopefully a return to the flat can help bring about some sparkle.

We have two runners at each of the jumps meetings at Fakenham and Wincanton.  The lorry set off pretty early for our long journey to Fakenham where Ya Know Yaseff runs in the first race and Pachacuti in the last.  Ya Know Yaseff runs in the conditional jockeys novices handicap hurdle at 1.35pm with Philip Armson on board.  She ran way below expectations at Fontwell over Christmas where we thought she would run okay in her first handicap.  She does have ability and off a mark of 73 with first time cheek pieces and tongue strap, we will be very disappointed if she cannot be involved in the finish today.

Pachacuti runs in the concluding handicap hurdle at 4.25pm with Tom Scu in the saddle.  He ran much more like we expected to be second at Hereford last time and a repeat of that run should see him go close in this.  The track might not be totally ideal but we think he will cope and hopefully he can win.

Meanwhile a bit closer to home, we run Ferdinand Star and Neon Moon at Wincanton.  Ferdinand Star runs in the opening conditional jockeys handicap hurdle at 1.30pm with Fergus Gillard on board.  He ran okay for a long way on stable debut at Taunton last time before fading and hopefully he can build on that today.  He has finished place in Ireland and he looks a good each way price at about 12/1.  Neon Moon runs in the handicap chase at 3.00pm with David Noonan in the saddle.  He has only had two starts over fences and ran okay in both of them before Christmas but we felt he wasn’t quite seeing out his races as we had hoped so he underwent a wind operation and this is his first run back.  He likes Wincanton, having won at the track before and although he hasn’t won over this distance as yet we think he will stay and he also looks to have a good each way chance in a competitive looking race.

Last night Manchester United won their second leg of the EFL Cup semi-final and will meet Newcastle in the final at Wembley.  There are no Premier League matches this evening but in America the Pro-Am Golf starts at Pebble Beach and I believe that the recently retired footballer Gareth Bale is playing.  I hear he is pretty good at golf as well as football and so could be an interesting watch!

I asked my boss for a raise because three companies are after me.  He asked me which ones?  I replied: gas, water and electric!  Have a lovely day.