Winning Lady

        Lady Balko wins at Plumpton
As we slowly start getting closer to Christmas, the Jumps racing starts to slow down before a short break and today the jumps action comes from Wincanton and Catterick with flat action coming from Newcastle on the all-weather with a afternoon/evening card. There is no racing action coming from Ireland today. 

We head to Wincanton today with three runners and Skin Full starts us off in the 1:15pm Novices' Handicap Chase over 1mile 7 1/2f with Jack Tudor on board. He made his chasing debut last time out and ran a much more positive race and made a step in the right direction, this is a slight drop back in trip but he should hopefully be able to build on his recent run. River Run Free runs in the 1:45pm Novices' Hurdle over 2miles 4f with Jack Tudor on board, he has shown ability in point to points previously and he's still lightly raced and will be open to improvement, conditions should suit him here today.

Yggdrasil finishes up the day for us and runs in the 2:45pm Handicap Chase over 2miles 4f with Jack Tudor board, he returns here from a lengthy absence and ran a solid race on his debut when he was last seen. He will be able to build further on today, it's good to see him back out and it'll be interesting to see how he gets on today. 

Yesterday at Plumpton, Lady Balko started the week off for us very well and showed another course and distance win over fences, her jumping was good bar one mistake and overall it was a good performance. She's certainly a mare that looks to be improving each time so I'm sure there is still lots to look forward to with her going forwards. 

Rachael Blackmore was back in action yesterday at Naas and was just denied victory on her first ride back after suffering a fall in September at Downpatrick. Her other ride on the day finished third. Sean Bowen looks to be missing Kempton on Boxing Day with Grade 1 contender Strong Leader being a top prospect for the Olly Murphy stable, Sean will be set to ride at Aintree and will be looking to continue adding to his winning tally in a bid for the Champion Jockey title this season. 

I found a lion in my closet the other day and when I asked what it was doing there, it replied "Narnia Business!"

Happy Tuesday!