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Monday 8th April

We are heading to Aintree with plenty of runners for the Grand National meeting which starts on Thursday.

Ginny’s Destiny, Kalif du Berlais and Bravemansgame have solid chances in the first three races on the card while Cap du Mathan should give my daughter Olive a great spin in the Hunter Chase.
Ginny’s Destiny hasn’t stopped improving since he joined us at the start of the season. In time I’m sure he will get three miles but the two and a half mile Grade 1 Chase looks the right option for him at Liverpool after his fine performance at Cheltenham
Then it is the turn of Kalif du Berlais who is unbeaten in two starts for us and goes for the Grade 1 Anniversary four year old hurdle. He was always going to by-pass the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham and seems in top order at home.
It was clear Bravemansgame hated the heavy ground in the Gold Cup and hopefully conditions will be more suitable for him at Aintree.
On Friday Pic d’Orhy bids to repeat last year’s success in the Grade 1 Melling Chase. He’s another who missed the Cheltenham Festival to be fresh for Aintree.
Others of interest on Friday include Sonigino in the William Hill Handicap Hurdle and Afadil in the conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle.
I’ve felt for some time that Kandoo Kid was an ideal candidate for the Topham Trophy but he doesn’t really want soft ground so I could keep him instead for Ayr.
Saturday sees Monmiral back in action after his brilliant victory in the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham. He’s been raised 6lbs to a mark of 144 and should still be competitive in the three mile handicap hurdle that opens the card on Grand National day.
One I can’t wait to see run is Caldwell Potter who is set to make his debut for us in the Grade 1 two and a half mile Mersey Novice Hurdle. While he doesn’t show too much at home his form in Ireland was very smart and I felt it was important to give him time to acclimatise after his purchase at a dispersal sale early in February.
For the latest news on all my runners on Thursday, Friday and Saturday please turn to my Betfair column which goes live the previous day.

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Monday 1st April

We ended March on an upbeat note with a double at Plumpton on Sunday.

The course executive deserve plenty of praise for putting on serious prize money on their Premier race day and were rewarded with a bumper crowd and decent weather.
Fame and Fun was the first to score in a two and a half mile handicap Chase. He’s well named because he is a fun horse, runs consistently in his own grade and was winning for the first time over fences. He enjoyed the better ground and will run again before the end of the campaign.
Emailandy was very backward last season but he is going the right way now and was well on top at the end of the £25,000 handicap hurdle with the help of a positive ride by Harry Cobden. The best is yet to come from Emailandy who will head to Sandown on the last day of the season and will be exciting when he goes over fences.
We came tantalisingly close to a treble on the card with Makin’yourmindup running a fine race before being caught in the last stride in the £35,000 Handicap Chase over three and a quarter miles. I’m delighted with his progress this season and he hasn’t finished yet as he could well join our team going to Ayr in three weeks time.
We have a few runners again at Plumpton on Monday but will be quiet through the rest of the week with Kruger Park pencilled in for Warwick on Thursday and a couple of entries at the weekend.
Then it will be a case of fine tuning a strong squad for Aintree.

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Monday 25th March

We saved the best to last at Newbury on Saturday with the brilliant victory of Regent’s Stroll in the £100,000 Goffs UK Spring bumper.

A gorgeous, big strong horse from the family of Denman, he made a stylish winning debut at Ascot in November and I’ve had the valuable Goffs race in mind for him ever since. That was partly because I didn’t want to risk him picking up another penalty and it was a brave shout by his owner Chris Giles to go along with my plan even though as a five year old, Regent’s Stroll had to give a stone to most of the four year olds in the race.
He won with authority at Newbury, was doing all his best work in the closing stages, and will not be running again this season because we need to look after him with the future in mind. We have always thought Regent’s Stroll was smart, he’s already done plenty of schooling over hurdles and he’s an exciting prospect for next season.
While it was great to see him win in spectacular style it’s a concern that some of our horses are not running as well as they should be.
Marvellous Mick bled at Ascot on Sunday and another of ours bled the previous day. Some of ours are in and out and it’s the same in plenty of racing yards, too, so there is obviously something odd going around. Even so, we are building up for a big push for the final weeks of the season. I’ll enter a few over the Easter weekend and will be sending a decent team on Sunday and Monday to Plumpton who are putting on some serious prize money.
Then its all systems go for Aintree, Cheltenham, Ayr, Perth and Sandown. I see the Racing Post trying to make something out of nothing as usual regarding Threeunderthrufive not running in the Grand National and going for the valuable Bet365 gold cup at Sandown on April 27. I have never been that keen. Quite simply after discussing with Harry we both unanimously think he is not ready for that test and it would not be in his best interests and Max and his family agreed with us. Perhaps next year but definitely not this year .
For the latest news on my Saturday runners please be sure to check out my Betfair column which goes live the previous day.

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