Cheltenham bound with three runners and great to be back at this November meeting with full crowds and a fantastic card too plus the Sales afterwards too.
Both Mark Boothright’s Back On The Lash and Charles Dingwall’s Talkischeap will be making their debuts over the cross-country course and have both made two trips there in the last few weeks for schooling sessions. The stats say that horses do usually take a race over those unique fences to get their eyes in so we will see but they have pleased me in their schooling and both jockeys were happy with them too.
Back On The Lash will be partnered by Sean Bowen who has been on board for all three victories already this season so knows him well. He’s won over 3 miles but no further so this extended trip is a bit of a worry but it’s a different style of running around there and if he gets into a rhythm then it will obviously help. He’s small and quite nippy so hopefully it will suit him.
Talkischeap won the Bet365 Gold Cup for Alan King but after a couple of disappointing runs his owner Charles Dingwall, who lives just out of Condicote, decided to try a change of scenery in a much smaller yard and we decided this race may suit him too. He’s done plenty of jumping around our new fun ride and seems a happy chap but time will tell whether he enjoys this course. Tom Bellamy, who has ridden him before, rides and really enjoyed his spin around Cheltenham on him last week!
In the concluding hurdle David Maughan’s Brorson makes his handicap debut on, what I think, is on a reasonable mark and he ran a blinder at Cheltenham in a Maiden last time. Ideally he wants further and so I was hoping the rain we had here overnight had also been over Prestbury Park and am disappointed they haven’t had the same rain but he’s come out of his race there last time in great form and I’m really pleased with him. He’s a horse that I think we’ll have plenty of fun with over hurdles before he ultimately goes chasing.
We then head for the Sales with a few people looking for the next Cheltenham winner for a reasonable price! Do get in touch to find out which ones we are looking at – I’ve been in close contact with Gerry Hogan, who has bought so many successful horses for us in the past and who we rely on 100%, and he’s narrowing down his search as we speak to those that he knows will suit us, our facilities and how we train. Hope to see you later!
Yesterday David Parry’s Mahanakhon Power ran a much improved race at Taunton over a trip of 2 miles 3 1/2 furlongs that seemed a stretch too far. He jumped slickly for most of the race with his schooling at home paying off and we learnt a lot more about him and it was an encouraging run. We’ll drop him back in trip now to 2 miles and hopefully if he jumps as well as yesterday he can be competitive.