28th June 2021

At Uttoxeter yesterday it felt as if Corona Virus was finally becoming a thing of the past, a decent crowd occupying all areas of the course was a joyful sight to behold. Sebastopol finished second for the fifth consecutive time, I feel sorry for the poor horse than anyone else. No one can say he is anything but consistent, he will now have a well deserved break and go over fences before the winter ground sets in.  Hunting Percival put in a gutsy performance, Stan gave him a smashing ride. He was the first horse off the bridle and stuck it out in tenacious fashion to win. He will be schooled over fences, if the schooling is up to standard he will try his hand in that division, he’s a small horse.

The novice chase system was never satisfactory and removing them and replacing with class 3 novice handicaps does not work either. I am a firm believer that horses should run twice in novice chases and be given a chasing mark. However, for that to work race conditions would have to be tighter. You can not have 110 rated horses running against 150 horses in novice chases.

A quiet week ahead on the runners front, the babies are all riding around the farm and loose schooling, tomorrow they will jump a pole and hurdle in the ménage with someone on their backs.