Tuesday's Meetings Leicester Flat 8 Races 1:00-4:55p.m. Punchestown N/H 7 Races 1:15-4:40p.m. Hereford N/H 7 Races 1:38-5:07p.m. Huntingdon N/H 6 Races 1:55-4:50p.m. Newcastle(E) A/W 8 Races 5:00-8:30p.m. Racecards At The Races Sporting Life Racing Post Good Luck
Sad to hear that Trevor Hemmings passed away through the night, a real supporter, a Grand National winning owner and a true gentleman of the jumps scene... RIP In fact his 2005 winner Hedge Hunter was the last time i was on Grand National day, and a superb day that was indeed...
have to echo that. A sad day for jumps racing, an owner whose colours I love seeing on a racecourse and a true gent of the game. That day when Many Clouds lost his life was one that will remain with me long into the future. Being by the parade ring waiting for him to come back in, and then hearing the news. The moment that happened it started to rain, which just summed up that day and that moment.
RIP Trevor Hemmings A life well lived by a great supporter of NH racing. He had some tremendous horses down the years including, as Nass mentioned, Many Clouds. Spookily, I was watching the replay of that Cotswold Chase just yesterday evening, no idea why. Albertas Run was another big favourite of mine - deadly at 2m 4f.
There's an interesting beginners chase to open proceedings at Punchestown with one of the Cheveley Park horses they moved from Elliot's yard, Ballyadam, making his chase debut. After a (remote) 2nd in the Supreme and (equally remote) 4th at Aintree, new handler Henry de Bromhead wastes little time in sending him over fences and you'd expect him to be well schooled for this. He faces stiff competition, however, in the shape of Dovecote Hurdle winner Cape Gentleman. He finished 3rd in the Galway Hurdle off 140 and was nudged up to 142 by the assessor. That put him 6lbs behind the somewhat fanciful hurdles rating of 148 of Ballyadam but I think they may be closer than that in terms of raw ability. All depends how they take to fences of course but at around the 13/8 mark I think Cape Gentleman could offer a bit of value today.
Looks like we might have decent ground for Champions Day on Saturday. Currently good-soft up the straight and soft on the round course but the forecast is for a dry week so it should hopefully be perfect going come Saturday. Mind you, we are talking about British weather so it could sling it down
Always helps when the odds-on fav falls at the first but a winner is a winner. Nice performance from Cape Gentleman (apart from the 2nd last where he nearly went the same way as Ballyadam - good to see him and his jockey none the worse for the fall).
Horrible fall, he got it completely wrong and hopefully he has been very lucky as he galloped on afterwards. I wonder if that might put the horse in the picture for a return to hurdles. I hope not, I hope we see him out again over fences with confidence in his jumping.
He is in very good hands for that Nass - de Bromhead is a master at teaching young horses to jump. Hopefully just a blip for Ballyadam.
