Frankie Dettori was back in action at Lingfield on Saturday, he won the Betway Winter Derby Stakes on Dubai Warrior for John Gosden, who also trained the second horse home, Court House.
Action over the jumps at Kempton saw an impressive French bred horse in Solo,trained by Paul Nicholls take the Adonis Juvenile Hurdle, he cruised clear of the useful Fujimoto flyer, trained by Emmet Mullins. Unusually he is still a colt and will head to Cheltenham with his crown jewels intact.
Song for Someone gave Tom Symonds his first graded winner as a trainer, ridden by Aidan Coleman the five year old showed a willing attitude to quicken up after the last, to win by half a length
Jonjo O’Neil jnr teamed up with Colin Tizzard for another big race win riding Mister Malarky to victory in the Betway handicap chase , having travelled well on the good to soft ground he won by 2 lengths.
Racing in Ireland last weekend saw fairyhouse and naas go ahead despite heavy rain fall, the bobbyjo chase was won by Acapella Bourgeois by 15 lengths, he could possibly head to Aintree for the grand national.
Champion bumper hopeful ferny hollow won as he liked with Patrick mullins on board in the concluding bumper race.
Rachael Blackmore and Henry De Bromhead added yet another grade 2 eventto their season with Jason the militant causing a shock at 25-1 for owner Peter Michael, having been beaten 80 lengths at the Dublin racing festival, he put that well behind him, Rachael managed to get steal a few lengths at the start and her mount jumped fast and low, he battled well when challenged after the last to take victory by a nose, the handicapper raised him 14lbs for that win.
The winning owner politely refused to collect his winning trophy from sponsors paddy power.
Fairyhouse called off their Monday fixture due to the inside track been un-raceable.
Looking ahead to this weekend at kelso, the premier novice hurdle takes place and I’ve got my eyes on a horse called Elf De Re ,trained by sandy Thomson the six year old has course form that reads 2136 ,he has a liking for the most likely heavy ground also form over 2 and 3 miles in his 5 race career at 14-1 currently he is worth an each way play.
Thursday saw the return of Richard Johnson only 5 weeks after breaking his arm. He rode a double narrowing the deficit behind championship leader Brian Hughes from 20 to 18. He faces an uphill battle to retain is crown but if anyone can do it, he can.
There is growing speculation about the coronavirus and the effect it could possibly have on the Cheltenham Festival. Please god that it gets contained and the festival goes ahead as normal. It would be a monumental disaster for the industry if it was cancelled.