Yearly Archives: 2021

Obviously Billams Legacy has the Noel Williams horse to beat, but she's been off for a long time. Our mare impressed last time at Wetherby but now concedes the winner's penalty. We'll find out how good she is today.

Takingrisks is in grand form. Obviously he stays very well and that will be the main requirement today. He's a big price but I won't be shocked if he gets in the shake-up.

The Cob didn't run his race at Newbury after two emphatic wins this season. He's much better than the Newbury form but will need to be to figure here. I will have slight reservations if the ground becomes too tacky.

The race wasn't run to suit Central City last time but in this big field there's more chance of plenty of pace from the outset. Granted that, Central City should be finishing strongly up the straight and has each-way chances.

I was amazed to see The Rutland Rebel was 33-1 for this race as judged on his run around here over two furlongs shorter it seemed obvious he would improve for the extra distance. That was his all-weather debut and he was the stable outsider behind Lleyton who won the race. I think he has…

Red Skye Delight hasn't run badly recently around here and the last twice she didn't get much luck in running and still finished on the heels of the leaders. If things go her way she would have a realistic each-way chance.

Lunar Sovereign surprised us a little when winning on hurdles debut at Wetherby last time. It won't be easy with a penalty but on the plus side he now knows his job. It would be nice if he could back that up with another solid run and in this big field he must have an…

There's been a debate between the owner and me about whether Curtiz will stay ten furlongs. If he follows the example of his siblings Supamouse and Affair he surely will. I must say I'm surprised that he hasn't managed to win a race yet but from a good draw in one hopefully Charlie can get…

Zayriyan is now without a win in 36 career starts and always seems to find new ways of getting beaten. Often it's a slow start, but when he gets that right he can run into trouble as happened last time when he was third at Chelmsford. Our biggest problem today may be getting out of…

Serious Ego doesn't have the greatest win ratio, especially his 1-16 with Gordon Elliott but he has been pretty consistent for me and ran his best race last time on comeback. I hope they go off hard in this race as I think that will give him his best chance if everything falls right for…

Gortroe Joe is in fantastic form and that's because we've got his head right. He also probably has one to beat so it might just be a day of hitting the crossbar if our luck's out. Let's hope it's in!

This is his Champion Chase or Gold Cup moment. First Flow deserves to be here as he has won his last five and I really will be over the moon if he could be placed. He will have the ground in his favour but is he really up to taking on the best two-mile chasers…

I had considered running Just Your Type over hurdles too but kept him to fences and he's wearing first-time blinkers also. He has the ability to go well, stays and doesn't mind the ground. It's up to him.

Silver Hallmark is a very nice horse and he's in good form. There's one obvious one to beat and if he does we'll have a smart animal on our hands.

Marown is a grand horse and he's done nothing wrong so far. This is a big step up in class but you have to dip your toes in the water at some stage. I'm sure he won't let us down.

Running here will qualify Alaphilippe for the EBF Final at Sandown but today's task under a double penalty looks tough. To be fair we do not know quite how good he is but on official ratings he has a fair bit to find trying to give 10lb to a horse rated 2lb higher. It would…