Bravemansgame just came up short in the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on Saturday for the second year running.

Although he ran well on Saturday he seemed flat out the whole way before finishing second to The Real Whacker who relished the ground and won on merit. There were no excuses for Bravemansgame, he certainly wasn’t tired afterwards and was right as rain on Sunday morning . Harry Cobden felt he might be keeping a bit for himself which is possible because he has had a lot of hard races and it might just be that he is looking after himself. On Saturday’s evidence another crack at the King George V1 Chase might be flying too high so we are having a re-think about future plans with nothing set in stone at this stage and will have plenty of discussions with the owner and Harry . He has an entry in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury at the end of the month and the way he jumps and gallops he could even be a horse for the Grand National now better class horses are running in it.
We started and ended the week with wins from two really nice young horses. Quebecois jumped for fun on his way to an impressive success on his debut over hurdles at Chepstow on Tuesday. He’s a lovely prospect and will probably go for the two and a half mile Winter Novice Hurdle at Sandown on the Friday of the Tingle Creek meeting.
On Saturday Kajikia made the perfect start to his career with a fine success in a competitive bumper at Ascot. An attractive type by It’s Gino, the sire of the top class four year old Sir Gino, he has not been the easiest to train as he can be quite sharp at home. Top marks to Jay Tidball who has partnered him at home every single day since he came in and rode him with kid gloves on Saturday before producing him with a strong late run that took him into the lead fifty yards from the line.
Kajikia is talented and Jay gave him a beautifully patient ride which was rewarded with his first win since joining us this season. It took Jay a long time to pull him up afterwards which is always a good sign.
The ground was quick enough at Ascot which is why I took a couple of horses out. Drying conditions at the moment are becoming quite an issue and it’s frustrating that there is no rain in the forecast this week. We are just going to have to be patient with all these lovely novice chasers we have ready to run. That’s going to cause its own problems because there is going to be a backlog with lots of other trainers in the same boat. We just need to be selective in the horses we run this week. Sans Bruit is pencilled in for the Haldon Gold Cup on Friday, while Rubaud, Mofasa and Insurrection, who all want good ground, are intended starters on Saturday at Wincanton.
It would wrong to end this weekly update without paying tribute to Daryl Jacob and Alastair Down.
Daryl has been back riding out for us for the last year and a half and I was thrilled that he reached a notable milestone with his 1,000th winner at Ayr on Saturday. Daryl has ridden a lot of winners for us, is a great ambassador for racing and has worked so hard over the summer to recover from a bad shoulder injury. Everyone in Team Ditcheat is very fond of Daryl who rode a Grand National winner for us and is rarely seen without a smile on his face.
The last word must go to Alastair Down whose death late last week was a big shock. He was a superbly talented writer and broadcaster, had a great passion for jump racing and became a valued friend through his visits to Ditcheat to write various articles about some of our star horses over the years. I had tremendous respect for Alastair, an outstanding man who had a fine sense of humour and was such a gifted advocate for our sport. We spoke for the last time at Cheltenham late last month on the day of the unveiling of the Alastair Down press room. Like so many racing folk I’ve missed his outstanding articles since he stepped down from the Racing Post a couple of years ago. He was out on his own.