It’s a quiet November Meeting for me due to being suspended on Saturday, so I watched the action on the television in stark contrast to the following week where all being well I’ll be riding Bristol De Mai in the Betfair Chase.
That’s something to think about next week, but I do have one more ride at Cheltenham this weekend when Ballygomartin runs in the High Sheriff Of Gloucestershire’s Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race that closes the final day on Sunday.
He’s trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies and Nigel won this race a few years ago with Ballyandy, so it’s usually strong form, throwing up a good one. If he can win this, we know we’ve got a pretty decent horse.
I do think he’s a lovely horse and he certainly beat a nice horse of Ben Pauling’s last time in Nestor Park, who I was on, and it rode like a really good bumper that day. Since then Simon Munir and Isaac Souede have purchased him and we’ve definitely got high hopes for him.
I’m very much hoping for a massive run and it’ll show us where we’ll go with him for the rest of the season.
Unfortunately things didn’t go to plan with Callett Mad in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle that closed Friday’s card.
I’m not sure what happened to be honest. We’ll get him back and check him out and see what the outcome is. I was very happy with him throughout the race, he jumped brilliantly, better than he did the last day and I thought I had a great position.
For whatever reason he just didn’t come up the hill, it’s disappointing. We’ll check him out and see if anything comes to light.
Finally, I had two nice winners last Sunday and Monday, Footpad, for Simon and Isaac, and Way Back Then for Ben Pauling at Kempton.
Footpad was brilliant, he gave me a serious feel. I was delighted with him and he jumped fantastic. He was a top-class hurdler, just short of the best and if he took to the discipline he was going to be very good. I was hoping for a performance like that and he was very impressive.
He could go two miles, he could go JLT, he’s versatile. I think the JLT at the moment looks quite competitive and the Arkle’s wide open, and then I heard reports afterwards that Willie is going to train him for the Arkle so I think that’s a good shout.
Way Back Then was very good, too. His homework was good and his bumper form was very good, he’s a tough stayer and I thought it was a fair novice hurdle around Kempton and run at a true gallop as well. There’s plenty to look forward to with him.
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