THERE is plenty to write about in the last few weeks, many notable performances on the track. Highlighting the past fortnight is the recent run of good form that sees the yard operating at a 27% strike rate.
With Cheltenham just around the corner, every weekend there are various trials and questions posed of our team. Many of the young guns have certainly staked their festival claims. Exciting young horses like Connetable, Baoulet Delaroque, Politologue and Tommy Silver.
Connetable stepped up at Sandown in the contenders hurdle and took the noteworthy scalp of Peace And Co. Taking on older horses on only his second start for us, he showed guts to win under a great Sam Twiston-Davies ride.
Baoulet Delaroque is a horse who has already been mentioned in Ditcheat Diary. He just keeps improving and he made a winning handicap debut in Wincanton by 17 lengths only to further defy the handicapper by turning out seven days later in Huntingdon to win again.
Politologue, who made the headlines for the wrong reasons in Cheltenham in December (ducked out) certainly redeemed himself last Sunday in Exeter. Owned by long standing patron John Hales, the son of Poliglote won the listed novice hurdle in a rout.
On Sunday February 7th, Gemma Groves, Dawn Holley and I travelled to Musselburgh with four runners. Musselburgh is a long way from Ditcheat so we headed off early on the Saturday after exercising the four horses. It was Musselburgh’s flagship jumps meeting so many trainers from down south had representatives.
Tommy Silver was a short priced favourite for the Listed Triumph Hurdle trial and he made no mistake. Making all under Sam, he jumped well and ran out an impressive winner. So the long journey was worthwhile. Two seconds and a winner definitely shortened the journey home but it’s still a long way!
DONCASTER
Thursday (February 11th) then took me to Doncaster with two runners, Rock On Oscar and Nexius. Rock On Oscar had been a touch frustrating this season but under a terrific Nick Schofield ride he made all to romp home to an easy 10-length win. His future definitely lies over fences.
Later in the day we ran Nexius in the novice `chase’. I say chase in jest as they bypassed nine of the 15 fences due to low lying sun. Still it was a level playing field for all and Nexius showed a smart turn of foot up the straight to run out a good winner. He is a lovely big son of Catcher In The Rye. Doncaster has been a happy hunting ground for us this calendar year with five winners. Notorious for good ground when other tracks struggle to race, it shows the liking some of our horses have for good ground.
WARWICK
Saturday brought me to Warwick with one runner Vivaldi Collonges. Vivaldi ran in the three-mile novice chase and we will struggle to have a wider margin winner for the rest of the season. Sixty-two lengths was the winning margin for Vivaldi, ridden by Sean Bowen and owned by the Gi Gi Syndicate. The syndicate features Mr and Mrs Hales who doubled up on Sunday with the aforementioned Politologue.
With the pick-up in runners in the past few weeks for the yard, I have been away racing a lot. Luckily the past week I’ve been involved with winners every time I’ve gone. It’s great to get to deal with the owners at the races, from Mr and Mrs Hales, Dan McDonald to the Owners Group. They are a branch of Axom Racehorse Syndicates. Their horse Nexius had many members present cheering him home at Doncaster.
YARD FLOODED
While I was away in Musselburgh I got a phone call late on the Saturday evening informing me of the flooding problem in the Highbridge yard. It was well documented over social media. Huge credit goes to the staff here at home who worked tirelessly to eradicate the problem and make sure every horse got the attention required. It is at times like these where the real team spirit comes to the fore and, as this flood proved, Team Ditcheat is stronger than ever.
Former Irish point-to-pointers continue to go from strength to strength and Lifeboat Mona is another example of this. Formerly with Michael and Asheligh Murphy, the daughter of Kayf Tara won her point in Fairyhouse as a four-year old. On joining us she won a listed bumper in Huntingdon and last week in Wincanton she broke her duck over timber winning a maiden hurdle. She is a lovely mare who will continue to progress over hurdles and will be one to watch out for on better ground in the spring.
Racing this weekend brings Grade 1 action from Ascot where Silviniaco Conti could line up. On Friday (yesterday) Pacha Du Polder could give Victoria Pendleton her first ride over racecourse fences. Irving bids to win the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton and with the announcement of the Grand National weights last Tuesday the Haydock Grand National Trial takes place today (Saturday).
A mouth watering weekend and for more information on Paul’s runners check out Paul’s betfair blog at https://betting.betfair.com/horse-racing/paul-nicholls/.