LOOKING FOR A NATIONAL WINNER: The April showers have been hitting us hard over the last few days. Sunshine, rain, thunderstorms, sunshine, rain, we’ve had the lot. I just wish it would make its mind up; my washing has been on the line for nearly a week!
The weather hasn’t been ideal for riding out either but I have stop myself behaving like a princess so I got my waterproofs out of the loft and got on with it and I’m actually really enjoying it. I rode out my first 2 year old this week for James Fanshawe who has a lovely bunch of horses lined up for the season. I’ll be able to keep you up to date on them and how their progressing throughout the season.
I was delighted to see George Baker win on Stormy Antarctic for Ed Walker in the Craven at Newmarket.
He won in decent style considering he hadn’t been fully revved up for the race. Beforehand Ed thought he was a gallop short and might be a little fresh. The slow pace didn’t suit him either and he was quite keen for the first half of the race. Ed was saying after the race that he’s a big raw horse who has only just filled his frame and it’s now looking like the 2000 Guineas would be on the agenda. Soft ground is not a necessity for him either, he clearly handles it, but he’s run well on quick ground before so I think he’ll OK when the ground dries up. I would love to see Ed and George both to win a big one and at 11/1 on BETDAQ, he looks great value.
Nathra put her opposition in their place when winning the Nell Gwyn at Newmarket on Tuesday. Frankie Dettori gave her a beautiful ride. He switched her off in amongst the pack and finished the strongest for it, winning with plenty more up her sleeve.
After such a good week at Newmarket I’m looking forward to the Guineas meeting in a few weeks time. I can’t believe how quickly it has come round.
It was a shame that Newbury was abandoned today but thankfully they’ve been able to move tomorrow’s meeting to the All Weather at Chelmsford. I think a few trainers will have been relying on this meeting for their Guineas preparations so it’s great that it’s been saved for them.
I had a few small bets on the National last week and won Zero! Despite that, it was, as always, a brilliant
day and watching Rule The World win for Mouse Morris was a perfect result after he’s had such a difficult year. I did manage to stay up to watch the Anthony Joshua fight, for those who are wondering! It was over pretty quickly though. I thought Charles Martin looked a bit chubby for someone going into a World Championship match, it looked like he’d just strolled out of Burger King. Next up will possibly be David Haye v’s Anthony Joshua so that would be a really good one.
The Scottish National is the big race this weekend and one of the last big Jumps races of the season before the Flat kicks in. There has been some money coming in for Spookydooky who has only had 5 outings over fence but he looks like a true stayer, which is what you need for this race, especially with the ground being soft.
Another one, which has been nibbled at, is Golden Chieftain who fell at the last fence in the race Spookydooky finished 4th in, the Midlands National. Before the incident, Golden Chieftain looked the winner so if he can get a clear round this time he’d be a very interesting contender.
Shrewd is a horse I’m really fond of and he runs in the Scottish Champion Hurdle. He has been in such fantastic form since the turn of the year and he’s an old mate of mine! I won on him as a 2-year-old and he was also third behind Olympic Glory on his debut with me riding and that form looks decent now.
He’s still only but has just started to really settle well in his races which would account for the sudden improvement this year. He will love that ground and looks like he’s worth a dabble.
Have a good weekend everyone.
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