Grosvenor Sport ambassador Harry Skelton looks back at his week in the saddle, plus looks ahead to the November meeting at Cheltenham.
The horses continue to run really well even though we’ve hit the crossbar a few more times than we would have liked.
Warwick last Friday
It was great to get a double at our local track Warwick last Friday. Allmankind did it well in the juvenile hurdle. He’s quite a free going type and I’m not sure there was much strength in depth in the race.
We were very happy with him, he could only beat what was put in front of him. He definitely has a fair amount of ability and he goes to Cheltenham on Saturday.
We’re probably going to drop West Cork back in trip a little. He went through the race very easily but just didn’t see it out. He jumps and travels like a nice horse, we just hope that a shorter trip will do the trick.
Maire Banrigh was fantastic in the novice chase, we were delighted with her. She was very fresh at Stratford the time before and we were confident she’d really come on for that run.
She’s a great thrill to ride and toughed it out well. It was a really good performance, especially as she was only getting a couple of pounds from the favourite. We’re excited about her. Plans are up in the air, for now, we’ll see where she takes us.
Aintree last Saturday
Oldgrangewood ran well again but we were still a bit disappointed. He seems to run the same race and I’d love to know why he isn’t winning. We’ve tried everything at home, so it’s back to the drawing board and we’ll look for another race.
I think Diomede Des Mottes was just a bit outpaced to the line. It was a really good effort and he’s backing up each run. He should make a good chaser when we go over fences, but we’ll stick to hurdles at the minute and he’s clearly going the right way.
Although we were gutted Roksana got beat we were delighted with the run. She felt great and went through the race really well. She took a bit of a blow turning in, which we were expecting, but she came back on the bridle and I think the mistake at the last cost her the race. We’ll look at a Listed mares’ race at Kempton next.
Other recent runners
Protektorat ran very well at Sandown on Sunday, just getting chinned on the line. It’s nice to see the ability is there, hopefully, he relaxes a bit more next time.
There’s a two-mile handicap hurdle for him at the Tingle Creek meeting. He really needs a trip but we couldn’t go further with him at the moment. We need to teach him his job; to relax and settle. Hopefully, with a run under his belt, we’ll see that next time.
We were really happy with Boss Man Fred at Kempton on Monday. We liked what we were seeing at home, although we were a little surprised he was able to win round Kempton over 2m5f on good ground.
He’s got a good attitude and will be a nice chaser in time. There should be lots more to come.
Cheltenham
Cheltenham’s three-day November meeting is always a big event, we just have to hope that we get some racing. Unfortunately, Friday’s has been cancelled but hopefully, we can get some racing in for the remaining two days.
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