Week Review and the National Hunt game is getting lively

A few Nicholls winners (actually surprising after his stable's start to the season), a few familiar Cheltenham names back out and a Wayne Hutchinson injury...thats right the National Hunt season is really getting going now. I jest about the last part of that sequence, as a runner myself I know the disappointment of injury and Wayne seems to be a really unlucky jockey in this regard, but it has left Alan King in a tricky Jockey position for this weekend but not for the reasons he is used to! Usually he has trouble deciding whether Choc or Wayne ride his horses, but now with both potentially sidelined he has the task of finding some suitable substitutes for his weekend runners. However with the form of the stable currently I'm sure there will be a few agents on the phone at the moment trying to get a hot ride off King who is operating at a 38% strike rate over the last fortnight-sizzling!!!
We'v seen some useful performances this week, and yesterday saw a cracking Novice Chase fought out at Carlisle between Urban Hymn and Duke of Navan, the latter coming out on top by a head but undoubtably horses that will both be going places this season. It wouldn't be a surprise to see Urban Hymn upped in trip given his hurdling form came over further. whilst Duke of Navan will be kept at shorter trips as he has contested the Fighting Fifth and other shorter hurdling trips. Buywise, a very unlucky loser at last year's Cheltenham festival, made a winning re-appearance and was trimmed into 10/1 for this year's Paddy Power Gold Cup on the back of this. Trainer Evan Williams was hugely downbeat over his horse's fitness pre-race so to see him win, and win well, bodes well as he can be expected to come on hugely for the run.

                                                         Potential Paddy Power Gold Cup winner??

I really liked the run of Binge Drinker, the Rebecca Curtis winner of a maiden hurdle at Worcester on Wednesday. I had this horse in my tracker as one Curtis had urged readers of the highly informative ATR Stable Tours to keep an eye out for this season and in winning by 9L he certainly went some way to justifying his trainer's faith in him. It will be interesting to see where Curtis goes next with this one but look out for it wherever it goes.

Some losers for the week...firstly Philip Fenton who looks like reaching the end of his training career after being found guilty of possession of steroids and other banned substances. He has been fined, lost his Gigginstown horses and the punishment from the Irish Turf Club is yet to come. Rightly so...apparently they found enough steroid to dose 250 different horses, absolutely sickening behaviour and he has rightly been hung out to dry for this. I hope this sets a president for Drugs in the game, but I'm a bit concerned that this could only be the tip of the iceberg given the spate of drugs cases in the media recently. We can only wait and see and hope that these stories don't tarnish the reputation of the game too much but it certainly does not look good...at all.

                                           Disgraced trainer Philip Fenton

On a slightly lighter note let's look at some losers from the actual horse racing action on the track. Deputy Dan, a high class staying hurdler last year, made his comeback at Fontwell on Wednesday. I don't think he lost too much in going down to Virak over a trip too short and round a track that would have been plenty sharp enough. Deputy Dan jumped very well and whilst perhaps Oliver Sherwood will have to re-assess his sights this season it was no disaster of a performance and there are definitely wins to be had over fences this season.

Puffin Billy and Far West both went down at Exeter on this chasing debuts, being beaten well by Dunraven Storm, however with the form of the Nicholls horses not great thus far and Puffin Billy having been off injured for a long time I also wouldn't like to write the 2nd and 3rd placed horses off just yet even though they were very well beaten by the Philip Hobb's trained winner. Also on this card we saw a lot of losers in the Betfair in running markets as Go West Young Man took his name rather too literally in the 4:10. Jumping the last in the lead and looking for all the world (and 23K matched at 1.01) the winner Go West Young Man careered off to the West leaving Thundering Home, a 25/1 chance, to come and take the win. Go West Young Man eventually managed to finish 6th, incredible and definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it already.

We've got some cracking action coming up this weekend from Aintree and Chepstow, with the Old Roan Chase the highlight of it all. I won't go into the action in too much depth as decs are not yet out for the races but I would urge readers to keep an eye on Spirit of Shankly in whatever race he turns up in (has engagements at Chepstow and Aintree) as he received some hugely positive words from his trainer in this weeks Racing Post Weekender. Sadly we won't see Kauto Stone in the Old Roan Chase, I was really keen to see how he would get on after the stable change, but the race still looks to be a very open contest and will be a great watch regardless. I'll be back to review the weekend cards at some point so thanks for reading this blog and speak soon!

It's all about the jumps for me - welcome back Cheltenham!

Cheltenham is back! The weekend just gone saw the first fixture of the 2014-15 National Hunt season stages at Cheltenham and we saw some cracking action with a few old favourites back on our screens. All the big yards were represented, however unfortunately Champion jockey AP McCoy was not, forced to sit out the weekend after a crashing fall a week or so ago.

Let's start with the first race on Friday, where no doubt Present View ran a cracking trial for the Paddy Power Chase back at this course in November. Despite not really respecting his hurdles (he is a far better chaser anyway) and losing a shoe he only went down a head in the finish. We can also definitely expect him to come on for the run and he will be a major player in the November feature race. Losing Blaklion before the start was annoying, I thought he would run a huge race as I was really impressed with him at Perth when the Twiston Davis tram were not really firing but there will be other days for this one. I'm not too sure what the official reason was for the withdrawal but something occurred down the start and he didn't jump off with the rest of them.
Court Minstrel continues to impress over fences, readily winning the 2 mile Novices chase, a task made easier by the fall of the interesting Un Ace. I believe Aiden Coleman was really keen on the chances of Un Ace at the Festival last year so I was interested to see how he would take to the larger obstacles and I'll be looking to see where Kim Bailey turns this one out next providing that fall hasn't left it's mark. We won't be seeing Court Minstrel for a while with Evan Williams keen to avoid the deep winter ground, however when he comes back in spring it will be fascinating to see how his jumping holds up when really put under pressure. Trainer Williams had held concerns over Court Minstrel's jumping given the way he took his hurdles but to date CM has jumped really well, albeit when willing rather easily.
Unfortunately the fancied mare Highland Retreat was a disappointment in the 3m 1/2f Novices Chase on the card which went to The Romford Pele of the Rebecca Curtis yard. He did well to see of Lamb or Cod, whose poor jump at the last was a factor in his defeat as it really knocked him off stride, but the Barry Geraghty ridden horse still ended up winning well.
The easiest winner of the day was probably seen in the Maiden Hurdle, where John Ferguson's Commissioned absolutely hosed up, beating the highly touted (but disappointing on hurdles debut) Ballebolley. Barry Geraghty won't have too many easier winners (until we see the return of Sprinter Sacre....) this season but it was good to see Ballybolley at least improve on his debut. We will certainly be hearing a lot more of the winner and possibly the 2nd horse this season.

Onto Saturday where the most fascinating race on paper for me before the action kicked off was the 3.10, a 2 mile Hurdle where we saw the reappearance of last year's Triumph Hurdle winner Tiger Roll, unlucky 4th in that race Calipto and the Swinton Hurdle winner Ballyglasheen clashing. Tiger Roll had to give weight to the field with his previous Grade 1 win, definitely no easy task. However Gordon Elliott's charge battled manfully, perhaps he wanted it more than Calipto, and came away with victory by half a length. Given the weight he was giving away this was a hugely impressive re-appearance from Tiger Roll, however Elliott has his stable in far better form than Paul Nicholls at the moment and that could be worth bearing in mind. I don't want to take anything away from the winner though and his Cheltenham record is looking more than a little formidable now. Maybe not this year but a potential Champion Hurdler of the future?
I can't believe that John's Spirit managed to win the Handicap Chase at 2.35 for the 2nd year in a row! I thought he was weighted out of it, but I can never get a handle on the Jonjo horses; they win when I don't think they can and lose when I back them! Persian Snow and the winner finished a good distance ahead of the rest of the pack and surely both will come back here in November where they could reoppose in the Paddy Power Gold Cup which John's Spirit won last year. This was the 2nd half of a double for O'Neil after In the Rough won the opener on the card, carrying on his good form from the summer. I often wonder if the summer form will stand up when the big boys come out to play but In The Rough has now won four on the bounce so has definitely earned his keep for the yard! However this was another winner missed by McCoy, for whom this recent absence has been very costly in terms of winners missed as he targets 300 for the season. By the time he comes back he could well have seen 20 horses he would have been riding go on to win; how costly will that be at the end of the season when looking at his final haul?
I was really pleased to see Ulzana's Raid win for Alan King in the 4.25. I had noticed that a horse he had previously beaten had gone on to improve a stone in the handicap since and under Wayne Hutchinson he has gone on to get the hat-trick up here. Carrying top weight and beating a field as impressively as he did here makes me think that there could still be wins to come for this horse when he steps up into graded company, perhaps even over fences in time.
Splash of Ginge was another Twister horse to bounce back from a  poor run at Perth earlier this season, showing how important stable form can actually be, as he beat his previous conqueror Ainsi Fideles by a good distance in the penultimate race on the card. Finally we saw an impressive winner of a flat race in the closing race on the card as Moon Racer absolutely bolted up by 12 lengths and could have won by 20. Favourite backers never had a moments doubt and anyone chasing the day's losses would certainly have been pleased if they had got on this one.

I must touch on the flat briefly though as it was amazing to see Noble Mission win the Champion's Stakes at Ascot on British Champions Day, a day that Sir Henry Cecil worked so hard to create and make a success of. Sir Henry had the great Frankel to help him get a winner on the day and it was marvellous and very emotional to see his Widow Lady Cecil take the big race on the card with Noble Mission. I'm sure there will be a few raised glasses at Warren Place tonight and well deserved too.

Many thanks for reading and I'll be back next week as the National Hunt season begins to take over from it's Flat counterpart. British Champions Day really marks the end of the Flat season for me, even though we have Racing Post Trophy day still to come the focus is definitely on the action over obstacles now. If you are reading this on Saturday evening/Sunday morning we even had the reappearance of the top hurdler The New One at Kempton on Sunday to look forward too, even at huge odds on it will still be great to see the Twiston-Davis stable star back out.

Good luck!

2 hugely contrasting news stories - its Goodbye to one and Hello to another!

This Saturday we received 2 huge and contrasting news stories onto our laps, one declaring the immediate retirement of a horse and one declaring a 2 time Arc winner would be staying in training. I know which one of these stories made me smile more! Certainly the news that Australia will not be illuminating British Champions day next weekend takes some of the gloss away from the event, and it is a shame that the so called 'Greatest Horse I've ever trained' - big claims by Aidan O'Brien - will not be kept in training next year so he can show us just how good he actually was. On the track this year there is a certain sense of what-could-have-been after being beaten on his final start in Ireland and not going for the Arc with the intent of turning up at Ascot this weekend. His Derby win was very impressive, and he had the speed to finish 3rd in a great renewal of the 2000 Guineas; if you really are as good as his trainer thinks why did O'Brien not actually send it to the Arc? I think he is clearly a very good horse however by retiring him now do really feel like there is a sense of unfulfilled potential here. It makes business sense to ship him off the stud, however there have been boundaries left unpushed with Australia and while his stud value may be better off protected the racecourse glory spared for the likes of Frankel and even Kingman this year by the racing public will not be adorned on Australia sadly.
While we said goodbye to one horse who we perhaps haven't seen the best of on the track we said hello again to one who we certainly have. In fact we have probably seen Treve at her best and worst on the racecourse in the same season, in the space of 2 runs even! This wonder mare, the two time Arc winner, will not be going for a third Arc after connections decided to keep her in training for next year. Fantastic news and it makes a really refreshing change to see connections go for more racecourse glory rather than going for the money that a breeding career would bring, especially when your mare has the trophy cabinet collection that Treve does. This surprised me even more with the well publicised health issues that Treve suffers from, and those that trainer Criquette Head-Maarek has done wonderfully well to overcome thus far. I really hope that this brave and bold decision by connections is rewarded next year and it will certainly add intrigue to the 2014-15 flat racing season.
Finally another welcome hello was said this weekend to young jockey Bryan Cooper, out since suffering a crashing fall at the Cheltenham festival last year. By all accounts his leg fracture was one of the worst the experts had seen so the fact that he is even back in the saddle is a huge achievement and speaks words of the desire and strength of Cooper. His one ride was Guitar Pete on Sunday; sadly for Cooper and his followers it wasn't a winning comeback, ironically beaten by the same horse that was Cooper's companion in that crashing fall! Horse racing; its a funny old game.
Talking of funny old games Sunday saw the running of the crazy Velka Pardubicka 4.25 mile jumps race in the Czech Republic. This race is absolutely fantastic and makes our Grand National look like it should be contested by the flat horses such are the ferocity of the fences that make up this legendary race. Amazingly there was even a 61 year old jockey who competed in this years renewal, Josef Vana, and impressively Vana managed to complete the course on his mount, however he couldn't add to his astonishing 8 wins as a jockey in the event already. This years renewal went to the hot favourite Orphee Des Blins, who was taking the event for the third time. However when you watch the race you can see why previous course form is so vital! I've attached some images of the obstacles the horses fence in this stamina test to this blog, and let me assure you it is worth taking ten minutes or so to watch the race on youtube!

We're building up to a cracking weekend for fans of both codes this weekend, with Future Champions Day on Friday, Champions Day on Saturday and the Showcase meet at Racing HQ - that's right Cheltenham is back and I can't wait for it. Should be a great weekend and one all racing fans will be awaiting with glee. Thanks for reading this week's musings and onwards we go!

A weekend for the Comeback King (and Queen!)

Wow. What a week of racing we have had the pleasure of seeing this weekend. And lets start with what will have been the undoubted highlight for many, and one where we saw one of the best training performances arguably ever from Criquette Head-Maarek, with the triumph of Treve in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. I certainly did not think I'd be writing that when I looked ahead to this weekend on Friday evening anyway as Treve had been well below par since winning the Arc this time last year in sensational fashion. Frankie Dettori had been jocked off and we were hearing stories of how our defending champion was suffering from foot and back issues, hardly stuff you want to hear if you are backing a horse in Europe's Premier Middle Distance Flat race. However none of this seemed to matter on the day as Thierry Jarnet accelerated away from the field to become the first back to back winner of the race since Alleged some 36 years ago, leaving Flintshire, pre-race favourite Taghrooda and Kingston Hill in her wake. Fabulous. Not so fabulous were the rides given to the Japanese horses, especially Harp Star who was dropped out rear as if he were in the Grand National! Both he and Just a Way fly home but Treve had long since gone, you can see the race for yourself below anyhow.

It was declared after the race that the filly is to be retired and Treve is bowing out on top after her stunning win, what a way to go. Any trainer in the land will have to go a long long way to match the training feat of Criquette Head-Maarek as well. As mentioned previously Treve had, prior to 3.30pm on the 5th October, been very disappointing for many this season with below par performances at both this track and Ascot. Voices were heard; "The allowances in her 3 year old year were huge, it will be too much for her without those", "She's had too many physical issues", "She just isn't the same horse as 2013". But who were we to doubt the genius of her French trainer to produce her on the day in shape to retain her crown. Simply marvellous and this is an Arc that will live long in the memory, not just for Treve's back to back victories but for the training feat of Criquette Head-Maarek to produce her in shape to do herself justice.

My other absolutely stunning moment of Arc Sunday was seeing Frankie Dettori delivery Olympic Glory with an absolutely astonishing late run to grab glory in the Prix de la Foret. For 6 furlongs of this 7 furlong trip you could have got any price you wanted on Richard Hannon's 4 year old taking victory in this group 1 race, however Dettori conjured a miracle from his locker to deliver Olympic Glory to victory and he actually won going away. It really does require you see a replay of the race a few times before you actually believe Frankie gets this one up!

The Arc came the day after we saw one time Champion Chaser Sizing Europe return to the track under new jockey Johnny Burke and this was another great moment for people who hold the admirable chaser in high regard, and there are a fair few of those. Henry de Bromhead set the training performance stakes fairly high on Saturday as he produced the old boy to win the PWC Champion Chase for the fourth year in a row - perhaps this was the weekend for back to back victories! At 12 years of age Sizing Europe is certainly no spring chicken but it was great to see him winning agin here and it got the juices flowing nicely for jumps racing as we start to see the familiar Cheltenham names returning to the track. I'm not sure if Sizing Europe will make it back to the home of jump racing again this year but we will get to see him soon in the Clonmel Oil Chase, where we will hopefully see another good showing from the veteran of the 2 mile Chasing scene.

There were too many other fantastic performances this weekend for me to mention them all here, I've just picked my favourite three that I'll take out of a great couple of days of Horse Racing, days that make you remember why we love the game so much! Limato was visually one of the most impressive winners of the weekend with his on-the-bridle, laughing at the opposition success at Redcar in the Two-year-old trophy and is certainly one to bear in mind through the winter months, If Henry Candy can get him to train on he will be excellent ammunition for the trainer to release in the 2015 flat racing season as he destroyed the field of this listed contest without Graham Lee even having to ask him the easiest of questions. Integral was given a great enterprising ride by Ryan Moore to take victory in the Sun Chariot at Newmarket, getting to the front early and never looking back while Pether's Moon beat off Enke and Parish Hall to take the Cumberland Lodge Stakes at a wet and windy Ascot, hardly typical flat racing weather (or at least not this summer!) It really has been a great weekend and one that all involved, independant of code of racing, can look back on with fond memories.

Once again thanks very much for reading!

National Hunt season coming into view

I'm starting to get excited now as Perth and Market Rasen this week both held decent cards over the jumps and thoughts of the winter season can really start coming now. Perth held a fixture on Wednesday and Thursday, the highlight probably being the appearance of last season's Betfair Hurdle winner Splash of Ginge over fences this time, although he was actually quite disappointing and well beaten. This was a reoccurring theme for the Twiston-Davis clan over the week with the 'new' The New One BalleyBolly done by an 80/1 shot when he went off a 2/5 favourite probably the biggest disappointment, especially considering the yard usually start the season so well. NTD did have a couple of winners but he had a few beaten favourites and isn't a yard I'd want to put full trust in just yet. You couldn't say the same for the yard of Charlie Longsdon though, despite the trainer himself saying he wanted to make a slower start to this year! Longsdon has sent out 6 winners from his last 8 runners, not a very slow start in my book!

Anyway on to the action over the sticks at Market Rasen on Saturday and this really was a very good card for this time of year. We saw the Good Doctor send out the winner of the feature race on the card in Mart Lane who got up after the last to lead home Dursey Sound and Houston Dynimo, who had looked all over the winner coming over the final obstacle. Mart Lane is a horse who definitely goes best fresh so it will be interesting to see how Newland campaigns this one but apparently a visit to Cheltenham may be in order at the end of October.
David Pipe sent out Unanimite in the opener on his debut on English Soil but the impressive nature of his win, beating several previous winners, makes it almost certain that we will be seeing more of this French bred this season. Although he didn't start the race particularly well he certainly won with some authority (beating another Twister favourite) and with Pipe well versed at getting the best out of horses with Unanimite's profile he may well be one to follow this season. Royal Irish Hussar took this race last season, a horse I followed season long hoping for more success, and I will be interested to see if Unanimite can better his achievements. The money certainly came for him before the off so clearly he is fancied by the stable, one for the tracker perhaps.
Finally Exitas took the feature hurdle race on the card, his 2nd win in a week and the way he was going away at the finish makes you think his winning run has not come to an end yet. He was running here off bottom weight, only being declared by his trainer with seconds to spare apparently! Carrying a penalty for his success on the 21st at Uttoxeter Exitas pulled well clear of the field after clearing the last under the capable Conor Shoemark and I'd fancy Middleton's charge to win again, especially if upped in distance slightly as he was not stopping at the finish line.

Finally one trainer that caught my eye at Market Rasen was Brian Ellison; the dual purpose trainer sent out a winner and a 2nd to Pipe's winner in the opener and I'll be keeping an eye on his runners over the coming weeks. I hope that with the yard having been in full swing of things over the summer anyhow getting going with his jumping types should be a quicker process than a yard who would just be coming out of hibernation for the winter. That's my theory anyway and I'll keep the blog updated with the success of this trial!

Thanks for reading!

More National Hunt musings with Lavelle and Longsdon

This week BetRacingNation have done a couple more great National Hunt interviews, with Emma Lavelle and Charlie Longsdon on the end of the line this week. Last year Longsdon started the season on fire and I am sure many punters will be looking to the young trainer in the October and November months this year as they try and get angle in. However a word of warning for you; Longsdon was bemoaning the fact he ended up with a load of badly handicapped horses come the big races in Spring last season due to his great early-season success. He actually said he will purposely be starting this season at a slower pace so that he has more of a chance come Springtime and the likes of Aintree and Cheltenham festivals, certainly something to bear in mind when assessing your betting choices. Charlie did give a glowing reference to a youngster he bought from France this season by the Stallion Irish Wells. Unfortunately I didn't quite catch the name but I'm sure it will become obvious once Longsdon enters him up and the trainer seemed sure that he would win his share of races in the coming season.

Emma Lavelle gave a really interesting interview and I was struck by how excited she seemed about her horse Timesremembered, a grade 2 winning hurdler last seasons and soon to be novice chaser. Emma though he was really tough, versatile with ground and would improve a bundle over fences because he would show his obstacles more respect. Definitely one to keep on side I'd say.
Another of the Lavelle string who will surely be making his mark on the National Hunt sphere this year is Le Bec, a faller in last year's RSA chase. Lavelle gave Le Bec a really positive mention and she thinks Le Bec could be a potential Gold Cup horse, with the Hennessy in November a target before the big one at Cheltenham in March, Certainly if Le Bec is as good as his trainer seemed to think he won't simply be making up the numbers in the big races of the 2014-15 Jumps season.

You can catch both interviews at the Bet Racing Nation website, as well as the Nicky Henderson interview I blogged about last week. As the Jumps season comes into view there interviews will definitely be worth listening back too and taking a few notes on!

Thanks for reading!

Letting the mind wander towards the Jumps

On a weekend of very uninspiring, in my opinion, flat racing I allowed my mind to wander towards the change of codes; sticking some obstacles on the way and making our way towards Cheltenham! Yes thats right, I started thinking about the National Hunt season, traditionally seen as really getting underway with the Charlie Hall Chase in late October so not even that far away...

The excellent Bet Racing Nation  treated us to an early Nicky Henderson interview this week which got some interesting news snippets, most notable that My Tent or Yours could be sent chasing. That would be some Arkle; the front-running Un Des Sceaux tearing into the fences accompanied by MTOY's, unless he learns to settle that it! Thankfully Simonsig looks set to make a full recovery from his season out last year and will be going for the King George, although unfortunately not with Sprinter Sacre, with Nicky set to keep the two apart. Nicky actually nominate the Tingle Creek as the Black Aeroplane's initial target so it seems he will not be changing his superstar's main trip, at least not initially anyhow. You can catch the whole interview here and I urge you to give it a listen if you have a spare ten minutes or so.

Considering I've mentioned Nicky Henderson and the Charlie Hall I should really include the news that the ex-Champion Chaser Finian's Rainbow looks to have the season curtain raiser as his first target for the coming season. Henderson has admitted the days of Finian's having the speed for the minimum trip are long gone, with age and injuries taking their toll, so a step up in trip to see if he can re-capture former successes looks the order of the day. Best of luck to the grand old horse, he has been desperately unlucky with injuries and it would be great to see him back at the top table.

Anyway that's enough for this week, hopefully the next Bet Racing Nation interview, I believe their Road to Cheltenham series has started and will air every Tuesday, will give us some more National Hunt titbits as the excitement builds to the return of the Winter Jumping extravaganza.