It's the start of british jumps time!

Well this Sunday marked the end of the Irish flat racing season, the clocks going back and the last group 1 race of the British flat racing season. Welcome back national hunt racing really! Aintree held their first meeting of the season and with decent cards coming at chepstow and wincanton  as well, as fans of the jumping scene we were not short of entertainment and I certainly enjoyed it. Perhaps a lot of readers will disagree with me but I must admit I was actually more entertained by the midweek action this week, seeing a few familiar hurdles go over fences like Deputy Dan, Far West and Puffin Billy, than the weekend action but as the weeks go by that is sure to change. From a punting point of view the victory of Spirit of Shankly was most welcome; I flagged the horse up in my Friday blog as my horse for the weekend and he did not disappoint me. However end of the aftertiming for me; to be fair I haven't my more winners to talk of!

Its a case of cheers to Charlie for my punting high point this weekend

       Hawk high, last year's Fred Winter winner, was a big drifter before the opening race but went on to take the opener on the card and should be interesting to follow for the year. However onto the main event....Wishful Thinking, who obviously had a breathing operation or two which we learned of AFTER the race, routed the field in the feature race on the Aintree card, the Money's Garden Old Roan Chase. Hobbs has his yard in fine fettle and this admirable 11 year old welcomed the good around on offer at the weekend, with the favourite Uxizandre back in 4th spot but sure to come on for the race and possibly the one to take out of the race with the winner sure to be clobbered by the handicapper for this win. At 11 years of age further improvements man not be that easy to find for Wishful Thinking and going up 10lbs won't make life easy for him. Bold Sir Brian trailer home in 9th but Lucinda Russell hadn't been going amazingly at the moment and BSB will surely come on for his first run in an absolute ago. When the stable are going a bit better I'll be looking for BSB to post a better performance on the back of his season pipeopener; he was once thought of as a Gold Cup horse so if he retains some of his old zest could surprise a lot of people next time up. Finally on this race Module looks set to go back down in trip and onto Cheltenham and its undulations for his next assignment after disappointing over this extended trip. Tom George said they were going a bit too quick for him on this flatter track so the stiffer Cheltenham course will suit his charge more and trainer was not too despondent post race.

The old boy done good

Aintree also had a nice veteran's race at 3:40 where pigeon island was smashed in the market all day long in the build-up to this one, only to get beat by a neck in a tight finish with Lie Forrit, from the aforementioned Lucinda Russell yard! Burton Port ran yet another stinker and I actually may have to resign myself to the fact this old warrior isn't chucked in off this ever declining mark sooner or later and is just past it!

One horse who is certainly not past it however was seen at Chepstow, where Blaklion really caught the attention when keeping up his 100% record for Nigel Twiston-Davies in the Persion War Novices Hurdle. After not starting at Cheltenham a week back this was much more like it from the 5 year old as he beat some decent opposition to win this Grade 2. I'm not sure what plans are for Blaklion from now but the way he beat Vincente and The Pirates Queen was really very impressive, definitely one to keep an eye on over these fort of trips this season. Sadly the really highly touted Son Du Berlais was fatally injured in behind, quite a loss to Nicky Henderson and connections and considerations are with them.
In the other features on the Chepstow card Regal Encore ran a stinker after being sent off as favourite in the Silver Trophy eventually won by Shelford from the red hot Skelton yard, what a fantastic double act Dan and Harry are! I'm actually surprised all of Harry's winners this season have been for brother Dan as he is proving himself a really useful jockey, however it must only be a matter of time before he starts to pick up a lot more outside rides as his talent in the saddle cannot really be questioned. In the last 14 days he has only had one ride for anyone bar his brother, on a 20/1 shot trainer by John Ferguson,  and it is a bit of a mystery to me why this is so. Am I missing something readers?

A potent combination

What else did we see over sticks this weekend? Well Sunday brought a rare shocker from McCoy in the saddle upon champagne present in the opener at Aintree. He really should have been notching up another winner on this one judging from his confidence in the saddle, however somehow Chicoria, an unfancied 33/1 shot, beat him too the winning post denying the champion jockey victory as he chases 300 winners for the season. As if his recent absence from the plate wasn't enough of a dent in these hopes; AP's cat will have had a real kicking tonight! Nicholls and Curtis both had doubles on the Sunday cards, Nicholls especially will be well welcoming this return to form after a patchy recent few weeks. He has said in a recent Betfair column that his stable are about a month behind so these early season winners, will in monetary terms not that valuable , in terms of stable confidence could prove vital in the coming weeks especially with Wetherby coming next weekend. Stable star Silviniaco Conti is set to contest the Charlie Hall and Rocky Creek (their big Grand National hope) is also set for a weekend appearance at Down Royal; it could be a great springboard for the yard going into the season proper.

Speaking of next weekend Wetherby is definitely shaping up to beat this weekend for me in the excitement stakes. Rumours of an appearance for World Hurdle Winner More of That were fuelled by McCoy's weekend comments, saying it wasn't an impossibility which would be really exciting for any jumps fan. Fingal Bay could start out over hurdles as he bids to take the Hennessy for Philip Hobbs as well but the Charlie Hall really could be an absolute cracker and blow everything else away. As mentioned Silviniaco Conti is a possible runner, as are First Lieutenant, Taquin Du Seuil, The Giant Bolster and Dynaste...wow! Definitely something to get you through the first week of leaving work every day in the darkness!

Once again thanks for reading and any comments much appreciated.

Alex