Author: Russ

The €100,000 Irish Grand National Trial comes at the perfect time of year for the Gordon Elliott yard. Like several top Irish stables—Henry de Bromhead’s being the most notable—the period from Christmas until after the Dublin Racing Festival (DRF) tends to be quieter in terms of winners. However, once the Cheltenham Festival countdown begins, these yards often hit peak form, and this…

Trainer Mark Walford has enjoyed an excellent run in February, with three winners from his last 12 runners that have started at prices shorter than 33/1. Arguably, that tally should have been four, with Chasingouttheblues unlucky in running when finishing third in a handicap at Haydock on Saturday. The heart of this strong form has…

Miss Cynthia has some serious form on the flat running well against the likes of Kyprios and Trueshan at grade 1 tracks such as Longchamp and Sandown. She was sold at the Tattersalls Horses in training sale for 100,000 guineas almost certainly with a view to establishing a future profile as a dual purpose broodmare.…

Rebecca Menzies has her string in a rich vein of form and Ocean Legacy who produced her best performance since joining the yard earlier this season, when winning easily at Sedgefield on the 5th February, can follow up at Southwell on Monday She was able to dictate from the front last time out and with…

Flat Season Nears as Haggas Team Gears Up for International Campaigns With the current spell of damp, cold weather, it’s hard to picture that the Flat season is just over six weeks away. The William Haggas team is already in full preparation mode, and this Saturday at 11:30 AM (UK time), their 106-rated three-year-old Yaroogh heads to post in the Al…

Linda Morgan’s runners were slightly disappointing at her local track at Leicester on Thursday. The chasers were let down by jumping errors. However all eyes will be on the return of the stable star Keplars Law who heads to Haydock Park on Saturday looking to establish himself as a high rated graded hurdler, before moving…

The February Ascot meeting is often a target for Nicky Henderson and he sends a team of five this year headed by Jingko Blue in the Reynoldstown Chase. That has an obvious chance but my attention is drawn to Bective Abbey who makes his seasonal debut in what looks a competitive 17 runner 3m Novice…

Linda Morgan had a frustrating 2024 but they have started 2025 in great form. Her chasers when running at her local track are always worth serious attention. We Got your Back can complete the hat trick in 2025. His first two victories where achieved over 2m and although put up 9lb for those wins they…

If backing odds on or short priced favourites at Cheltenham is not your betting strategy – then punters could do worse than jump on board the JP O’Brien bandwagon at this years Festival. With the long range weather forecast suggesting the course will get only minimal amounts of rain – the chances of the O’Brien…

The leading yards of Venetia Williams and Phillip Hobbs and Johnson White have both gone to Hereford to give a couple of horses that look potentially 125 rated horses the opportunity to win races rated 0-100 in the case of Simple Getaway and 0-120 for Oh So Johnny. Many very good judges invested heavily in…