It’s been a bit of a steady enough week for me. I had a couple of rides at Haydock on Wednesday, but that was just about it. This time of year can always be a little quiet, especially after Cheltenham week, so we’re just waiting for things to pick up a little bit.
Go away rain!
The big thing for a lot of trainers at the moment is that they are fed up with running horses on testing ground. We’ve had a lot of rain this winter, which means we haven’t had a lot of opportunities to run good ground horses. Olly and Josh have a lot of horses that are ready to go on the better ground, so hopefully we can get a dry spell soon.
This weekend I’m off to Bangor-On-Dee for three rides on Saturday, which all look to have nice chances. A couple of them have low weights, so that means no tea for me on Friday night!
What is it like to ride Bangor-On-Dee?
I enjoy going to Bangor-On-Dee, it’s a lovely tracy, where you can take your time to get into the race with your horse. The pace usually quickens at three out, and if you’re still going well on the bridle, it’s always a good sign that you’re going to be involved in the finish.
My rides at Bangor-On-Dee
2.00 – Jumbo Veste Verte (Tom Gretton)
He’s run some good races this year, and his last run at Southwell on heavy ground was a good effort. He runs off a lightweight here, which will help, and if he can build on that last run, I think he’s got a nice chance of being in the mix.
3.05 – One Last Glance (Tom Gretton)
This horse has been a consistent performer over hurdles and fences this season. We’re staying over the larger obstacles again here after he ran a decent race to finish second at Southwell last month. I don’t think this is a competitive race with there being only five runners, so I can’t see any reason why he won’t run a nice race.
3.40 – Dragonball Prince (Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero)
He didn’t shape too badly when he finished fifth at Southwell last time out. I was pleased enough with him that day. I think he’d prefer some better ground in time, but we’re going to take our chances with him here.
Not long until Aintree and Ayr
Even though it’s a quiet day for me on Sunday, next week we’ll be starting to prepare some of the horses for the big meetings at Aintree and Ayr, which I am really looking forward to.
I hope you all have a good weekend and you’ll be hearing from me again soon.