Itseemslikeit - Uttoxeter Winner

       Itseemslikeit Uttoxeter Winner

It was a brilliant and rewarding win for Itseemslikeit at Uttoxeter yesterday.  The day didn't start as we hoped with Phantomofthepoints falling in his race but thankfully he is okay and the day ended on a good note!  Phantomofthepoints had jumped very well, if a little left and while we were probably booked to finish second to the short priced favourite he did not really deserve to fall at the third last, the open ditch.  He seemed to jump the fence well but slithered on landing and came down which was a bit unlucky.  As I say, the main thing is he and Jack are both fine and will be back another day.

Purple Owl returned to the level of form that saw him finish second at the track on his penultimate start, leading the field and jumping well throughout and finishing third.  He didn't seem to mind the heavy going and while left behind after the last hurdle by the front two in the betting, it was a good effort and he is now eligible for a handicap mark.  Itseemslikeit is a very lightly race six year old and it was lovely to see him do what we hoped he could do on the racetrack on his chasing debut.  He relished conditions and made the fences look like hurdles!  He was very neat and quick over the obstacles apart from the final two fences but by that point he had the race in safe keeping.  There has not been major problems with him, just lots of little niggles!  He is a giant of a horse, probably the biggest we have and there is an old saying with horses - the bigger the horse the bigger the problem!  He was bought to be a three mile chaser and to get him to the track and for him to do that was just brilliant and to reward his owners patience.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as alluded to by Matt Chapman on the TV but the form was there in the book for him to produce that performance if you look back through his career.  He is fine this morning which is the main thing and I hope that even once re-assessed by the handicapper he has further scope for improvement.

Uttoxeter was the only surviving jumps meeting yesterday after Ayr and Punchestown were lost to the elements.  No such problems for today though and there are three jumps meetings at Hereford, Hexham and Leicester.  There are two all-weather flat meetings, at Kempton over here and in Ireland at Dundalk.  The stable has two runners today, one over jumps at Hereford and one on the flat at Kempton.  Green Sky runs in the 1.05pm maiden hurdle, division two over 2 miles and Jack Tudor rides.  She has had just the one start over hurdle for us so far at Newton Abbot where she travelled and jumped well before stopping quite quickly towards the end.  She has had a wind op since and returns today in a race that looks a good opportunity for her to run well.  She is second in the betting, the ground and track should both be fine.  Wherever she finishes I hope she keeps galloping to the line and gives us something to build on going forwards.

Bashful Boy is our other runner today and he runs on the flat at Kempton this evening with Rob Hornby riding.  He runs in the 7.30pm handicap over two miles.  It will be our nine year olds first run on the all-weather for a while but he is a two-time winner on the artificial surface and he is now just one pound higher than when he last won on the surface.  It looks a tough race this evening and he is one of the outsiders of the field but I would not be surprised to see him outrun his odds and Rob Hornby has a good record when riding him.

There were wins for Spurs and Liverpool in the Champions League last night but Chelsea lost away to Atalanta.  Tonight it is the turn of Newcastle, Arsenal and Manchester City who all play away.

I'm working on a bunch of jokes about win.

They're currently saves as drafts!

Have a great day!