Wednesday 15th May 2019 - a great start to the new season

We’ve certainly hit the ground running in the new season with 4 winners on the board from just 10 runners. 

Some Day Soon got the ball rolling when deservedly getting off the mark over hurdles in a maiden at Fontwell last week.  Gavin Sheehan had to keep him up to the mark as he idled a bit up the run in, but he won easily enough in the end, and I look forward to having plenty of fun with him now.  The form of his novice hurdles in the autumn had all worked out so well when he was 2^nd on three occasions with the winners going on to win the Dovecote and run well at the Festival.  I am delighted that we kept him back for a spring campaign, and I hope he’ll be able to shine over the next couple of months, before we think about stepping him up in class in the autumn.

Some Day Soon gets us off the mark for the new season.

We had an enjoyable 25 minutes on Saturday when Shantewe and Thebannerkingrebel provided us with an across the card double.  Page Fuller took 3lbs off Shantewe as she defied her penalty in the bumper at Hexham.  Having won her bumper in the autumn, she was then placed in a listed contest and ran well to be 5^th in the Aintree Grade 2 Mares Bumper, so she certainly looks a mare to follow over hurdles after her summer holiday.

Shantewe defies her penalty to win another bumper.

Another to bring Graded form into the new season was Thebannerkingrebel who was 2^nd in the Grade 2 Aintree bumper, and he duly obliged on his hurdling debut at Warwick on Saturday.  He jumped well, but was a little bit novicey on occasions, but I am really quite excited about his future as he really could be a Graded performer over hurdles.  Gavin had a grin from ear to ear when he got off Thebannerkingrebel on Saturday, so we can certainly dream a little now. He had been off a while prior to his Aintree run, so we may see if we can run him again in June before he has a late summer holiday.

Thebannerkingrebel wins on hurdling debut to give us an across the card double.

I was delighted to see Between the Waters win last night at Southwell under an excellent ride from Page.  It was his seasonal debut and he looks to have improved for his break so he should give us plenty of fun over the summer months. 

Between the Waters wins under Page Fuller at Southwell.