River Wins at Leicester

       River Run Free Winner at Leicester

It was great to get a win with River Run Free at Leicester yesterday, returning to form and winning nicely under Jack Tudor.  He looked happy from the outset, travelling and jumping well throughout and then some good leaps up the home straight put him in a great position to take control of the race after the last fence.  Jack pushed him out hands and heels to score comfortably in the end and it was a pleasing performance.  You can forgive any horse a poor run on atrocious ground like at Exeter last time and it was just good he put this well behind him.  He won this race off a mark of 86 and I am sure there is more to come once he is reassessed.  There is a similar race back at the track next week and seeing as now he is two from three at Leicester we are certainly going to consider going back there.  He won twice in quick succession last season so we know he can do that and we will see how he is in the coming days and go from there but the initial signs this morning are good.

There is just the one jumps meeting at Catterick today and while we don't go up there, we do head to Kempton this evening with Bashful Boy to run on the all-weather.  He runs in the 6.00pm staying handicap over two miles and Eddy Greatrex rides.  He is about 4/1 third best in the betting and I would like to think he has a good chance and I would dearly love him to get his head in front.  He finished third at the track three runs ago, then he was runner up at Southwell before finishing third again at Wolverhampton last time.  The track didn't suit the last day and they went a slow pace which did also not help so a return to this course is in his favour.  Rob Hornby has ridden our ten year old for his last three starts but he is currently away skiing so we have Eddy for the first time.  While Eddy has not ridden for us before and interesting fact for you all is that his twin brother Tom used to work for us!  Eddy actually retired from race riding a few years ago because of a back injury but is back riding better than ever at the moment and has plenty of experience.  He is currently riding at a 25% strike rate in this month alone and riding plenty of winners for some top stables.  

Zoran is the current market leader in our race this evening but he finished behind us at Southwell.  That one is partnered by Oisin Murphy so I cannot help but feel the jockey factor is affecting his price as is the Billy Loughnane factor on Educator who is also being supported.  The second horse in the betting is called Appier and that was the horse that won at Wolverhampton last time and I hope with a true run race we can reverse that form.  It is a tricky little race and the same horses reoppose each other regularly at this time of year because there are limited opportunities but I hope it is our turn to come out on top this time.  

There is also a flat meeting at Lingfield this afternoon.

In last night's Champions League football action there were wins for Arsenal and Spurs but there was a 3-1 loss for Manchester City.  Tonight it is the turn of Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea.

It has been 21 days since I joined the gym but there has been ZERO progress.

Tomorrow I'll go there personally to see what is going on.

Have a good Wednesday!