Brancepethfan is active once more
Good morning all,
Not been much on here for the last year or so, or from me on sites such as Neigh or Jumpingforfun either, come to that, largely as I felt honour bound to offer all my intellectual copy to the Sportsman for as long as I was employed there.
As you may have heard by now, that particular publication sadly ceased trading rather suddenly last Thursday evening - certainly more suddenly than those of us at the coalface had anticipated, given the generally encouraging signs there had been regarding ongoing funding of the paper.
Doubtless more details of the demise, its causes, and how, if at all, it could have been avoided, will all come to light in the coming weeks and months. In the immediate term, though, I am once more a totally free agent, and shall endeavour to get some more material on here in the immediate term.
Mr Guest's last twelve months have been even more up and down (mostly down, alas) than my own, of course, and catching up with everything is going to take some time. Suffice it to say that he's not had an especially bountiful season to date, with eight winners and a strike-rate somewhere in the region of 5%. Further, the Paul Beck / Andrew Flintoff article in the Racing Post the other day confirmed that Sobers, the subject of that controversial Ayr hurdles run in March, has now been moved to Nick Gifford after Beck befriended him over games of cricket. There were no further indications as to where Pass Me By is currently residing, but the likelihood that Beck has withdrawn totally from Brancepeth now must be growing by the day.
No wins to report for the yard in the last week, and most of the performances wouldn't offer too much hope for the immediate future. However, Cash On Friday did put up a most encouraging show on his first run for a year and hurdles debut when a staying-on third in a 2m4.5f Hexham maiden on Saturday. His owners, messrs Dixon, Hunter and Roche, could certainly use a change of luck - Cash On Friday has stood no racing at all in his 18 months at Brancepeth, and another horse, On The Verge, managed just a circuit and a half of a 3m hurdle at Southwell in the summer on his first run since October 2004 - Roche had moved him from John Jenkins - before going wrong.
Cash on Friday isn't bred to be much, having cost 1,000gns as a yearling and being out of a selling hurdle winner, but he should find a small handicap at 2m4f or beyond on Saturday's evidence.
Why The Big Paws took the mother and father of falls when still disputing the lead two out in a Southwell chase in July, but thankfully doesn't appear to be bearing any lasting mental scars judged on her run at Carlisle on Friday. Having Strong Resolve taking her on for the lead in that 3m chase wouldn't have been ideal, as she is happiest bossing it on her own up front, and she was ultimately a well-beaten fourth, but she only really made one small mistake on the way round and seemed happy enough.
This then rated a fairly encouraging effort as much from a wellbeing point of view as a form one, but realistically one or two pounds may have to come off yet for her to go in again, as she's still 3lb above her highest winning mark and not really finding significant improvement rising nine.
It won't have been mentioned previously, but the mare has run in the colours of Andrew Bell since reappearing in early Spring, the involvement of the Blaydon Racers Partnership with her and other animals in the yard appearing to have finished.
Not been much on here for the last year or so, or from me on sites such as Neigh or Jumpingforfun either, come to that, largely as I felt honour bound to offer all my intellectual copy to the Sportsman for as long as I was employed there.
As you may have heard by now, that particular publication sadly ceased trading rather suddenly last Thursday evening - certainly more suddenly than those of us at the coalface had anticipated, given the generally encouraging signs there had been regarding ongoing funding of the paper.
Doubtless more details of the demise, its causes, and how, if at all, it could have been avoided, will all come to light in the coming weeks and months. In the immediate term, though, I am once more a totally free agent, and shall endeavour to get some more material on here in the immediate term.
Mr Guest's last twelve months have been even more up and down (mostly down, alas) than my own, of course, and catching up with everything is going to take some time. Suffice it to say that he's not had an especially bountiful season to date, with eight winners and a strike-rate somewhere in the region of 5%. Further, the Paul Beck / Andrew Flintoff article in the Racing Post the other day confirmed that Sobers, the subject of that controversial Ayr hurdles run in March, has now been moved to Nick Gifford after Beck befriended him over games of cricket. There were no further indications as to where Pass Me By is currently residing, but the likelihood that Beck has withdrawn totally from Brancepeth now must be growing by the day.
No wins to report for the yard in the last week, and most of the performances wouldn't offer too much hope for the immediate future. However, Cash On Friday did put up a most encouraging show on his first run for a year and hurdles debut when a staying-on third in a 2m4.5f Hexham maiden on Saturday. His owners, messrs Dixon, Hunter and Roche, could certainly use a change of luck - Cash On Friday has stood no racing at all in his 18 months at Brancepeth, and another horse, On The Verge, managed just a circuit and a half of a 3m hurdle at Southwell in the summer on his first run since October 2004 - Roche had moved him from John Jenkins - before going wrong.
Cash on Friday isn't bred to be much, having cost 1,000gns as a yearling and being out of a selling hurdle winner, but he should find a small handicap at 2m4f or beyond on Saturday's evidence.
Why The Big Paws took the mother and father of falls when still disputing the lead two out in a Southwell chase in July, but thankfully doesn't appear to be bearing any lasting mental scars judged on her run at Carlisle on Friday. Having Strong Resolve taking her on for the lead in that 3m chase wouldn't have been ideal, as she is happiest bossing it on her own up front, and she was ultimately a well-beaten fourth, but she only really made one small mistake on the way round and seemed happy enough.
This then rated a fairly encouraging effort as much from a wellbeing point of view as a form one, but realistically one or two pounds may have to come off yet for her to go in again, as she's still 3lb above her highest winning mark and not really finding significant improvement rising nine.
It won't have been mentioned previously, but the mare has run in the colours of Andrew Bell since reappearing in early Spring, the involvement of the Blaydon Racers Partnership with her and other animals in the yard appearing to have finished.
posted by Jeremy Grayson @ 2:44 AM
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