Pic D’Orhy delivered our 80th winner of the season with a fluent success on Sunday in Huntingdon’s showpiece race of the year the Peterborough Chase.
He is among my favourites, a proper horse now, on decent ground, and made all the running at a good tempo before keeping on willingly to see off the late challenge of Millers Bank. There are more races to be won with Pic D’Orhy who is still improving and runs next in the Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton towards the end of January.
I’m thrilled that our horses remain in fantastic form with nine winners over the last three days maintaining our strike rate at 33%. They look amazing and continue to run out of their skins.
I’m pleased to say that our policy of buying young horses and bringing them on steadily continues to pay dividends.
Meatloaf, Inthewaterside and Marvellous Mick all won their bumpers last week on their debuts and we have plenty more like them to run in the next few months. They are all going to make cracking hurdlers next season.
On Friday Gelino Bello maintained his unbeaten record over fences at Exeter while Henri The Second looked a serious prospect in winning the Grade 2 Ballymore Winter Novice Hurdle at Sandown in great style.
He has so much raw ability, is still learning and will make an awesome chaser in time. More immediately he might head for the Grade 2 Leamington Novice Hurdle at Warwick in January.
On Saturday Greaneteen just came up short in his bid to land the Grade 1 Tingle Creek Chase for the second year running. I’ve seen him jump a little better but there was no disgrace in finishing second to Edwardstone who looked outstanding in the paddock, was a top novice and is clearly the new kid on the block.
Greaneteen has had two hard races this season and as he is at his best when fresh he will have a little break now before running in the Champion Chase and then returning to Sandown on the final day of the season.
I’m not saying he is going to win at Cheltenham but he has run tidily in the race before and could well finish in the first three.
Lorcan Williams deserves a pat on the back for his treble for Team Ditcheat at Chepstow on Saturday while Dixon Cove doubled her score for the season with a ready success in the juvenile hurdle at Aintree.
We will be busy again in the second half of this week with runners at Warwick and Taunton on Thursday and Switch Hitter is a possible at Cheltenham on Friday.
A day later Monmiral is also entered at Cheltenham but would need plenty of cut in the ground. In addition Outlaw Peter goes for the three mile Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle, Il Ridoto and Simply The Betts are on course for the Racing Post Gold Cup and Knappers Hill will take his chance in the International Hurdle.
For all the up to the minute news on my runners on Friday and Saturday please be sure to check out my Betfair column which goes live the previous afternoon.