A couple of days of racecourse action to catch up on - close second places, wrong trips, an encouraging jumps debut and a winner too!!
So in chronological order -

Ayr Tuesday

The Trainer with Stolen Money, Leah and Craig Nichol

Pride of place naturally goes to hat-trick hero Stolen Money who with his win in the 3 mile handicap hurdle completed a 3-timer to follow up wins at Carlisle and Haydock earlier this season. Baby Gee (remember her?) was the last horse trained by Donald to win 3-in-a-row so please excuse us while we are celebratory mode.

Pre race in the paddock, Craig explained that he had a couple of riding plans in mind, and with no-one willing to lie up close Plan B was put into execution. Craig admitted that the acceleration Stolen Money showed when he was encouraged to quicken clear going into 4 out (last in the back straight) caught him slightly by surprise but nothing compared to the way the gelding lengthened and dominated in the home straight.

Exhilarating. And Craig only had to keep this most willing gelding up to his work to come home with 3 lengths to spare. He can progress further.

The day started with Bonny Houxty putting in a fine performance in the opening 2½ mile handicap hurdle. It wasn't her fault that the trainer picked a distance far short of her best........
Bonny is a strong mare, who now jumps well and races easily up with the pace. It's just she's not quite quick enough to take them on over middle distances. She finished 5th here, only a length or so off 3rd place but while the testing conditions were in her favour she really does need 3 miles or more if she's going to pull off that elusive first win. Maybe next time......

A very encouraging hurdling debut from So Many Roads followed quickly. 2m 4f maiden hurdle but some fairly useful form on show and our gelding was beaten over 20 lengths but ran a fair bit better than that bare result would suggest. After a couple of novicey leaps, he put in several composed jumps over the flights and was still bang in contention 3 out. He's very much a work in progress, so it was no surprise that he tired approaching the last and Craig didn't knock him about from that point.

Bumper debutant Ellistrin Star was travelling with the leading group but got into a bit of jostling on the bottom bend turning for home and didn't really recover. She's the type to benefit from racing so may take in another bumper before long. She'll probably be suited by better ground too.

With a couple of races back-to-back, it was a hectic day for our team so special thanks to Zoe & Leah for their excellent work during what was quite a long, but enjoyable day.

So Many Roads and Ellistrin Star

Wetherby Wednesday

And the fun continued.

Just the one runner at Wetherby yesterday but Simon & Angela Gillie's Kinerton Hill ran a fine race in testing conditions that were rapidly deteriorating by the time of  last couple of races on the card.
Ridden by Callum Bewley, Kinerton Hill jumped off in a prominent position and despite several moments of green-ness he remained close up throughout. Indeed he showed a bit of acceleration to take it up after jumping the last only to be thwarted by the ex-French Trac who came from the clouds to win the race in the final 150 yards.

But Kinerton Hill stayed on right to the line beaten just over a length in 2nd place.

Albeit at a modest level, this was an encouraging run from the 6yr old Kalanisi gelding, and we'd like to think that he will continue to progress over hurdles when conditions suit. A future chaser for sure.

Kinerton Hill, Stolen Money and Shoeshine Boy