A great first day of racing!

I think the changes with adding the Dubai Carnival made an impact straight off the bat with Stu Grey plucking a G3 - so Congrats to Stu

I also think running as many races as possible over a straight course during the first week has been successful so far. The majority of horses appear to have had clear running and hard luck stories are minimal.

Thanks to Gray for implementing the changes and I also hope this makes Sirius handicapping job a little easier during the first week.

Doug

Well I doubt will look anything like this after today's racing but....... I will bask in my own glory for a day

Great to have the league back. My horses did mostly bad, but some promising performances made me optimistic when it comes to the handicaps later.

Well done all winners and placers. Hopefully I will be able to follow the stream tonight.

I am absolutely chuffed with my start to the season.

3 winners on the flat and 2 winners over the sticks.

Judging from the first days racing, it is going to be a close thing at the top for that top trainers spot.

Flat:

Opening day with three flat wins, delighted with that, throw in the lesser places and the whole team gave a good account of themselves today.

Chain of Causation - 5th - Did not have the best of runs really, missed the break which is not by design and then was short of room in the closing stages, should improve on this.

American Road Trip - 3rd - Decent run but exposed on raw pace in the closing stages and will as expected need to take up the running first in this company going forward, will still head to the 2000 guineas most likely.

Touch of Class - 4th - Decent enough opening, stayed on but was not able to make up any ground, will not naturally take it on early so may struggle with so many horses who are largely the same pace in the closing.

Burn Hollywood Burn - 3rd - More of the same really, but did make a little late ground and stayed well. Again need to get into a challenging position earlier in what seems to be a 1000 guineas field with a lot of similair horses.

The Mountain - 7th - Dispite being ever present in my breeding lines, this is more to do with his stats and him having full speed than anything else. Stayed well though making some late headway, but far too much talent for him to run down with his other limitations. Will be looking for a low class of race.

Run you Down - 4th - Little disappointing and I think we have yet to see the best of her as she was largely boxed on the run in, made some late headway when she found a run, but there was no running down the kinky booted 'Edinburgh Shore Boy' at this stage, will also be better at 2m.

New Jack City - 1st - But he did not deserve it, ran as I expected he would with a late challenge, but 'Utopia' had him well beaten before the jockey seemed to ease down. Harsh on Leon but i'll take it.

Tarasque - 1st - Another who ran as she should, and again robbed Leon's horse 'Riding Shotgun' on the line, though here I think he should have no complaints. Seen this horse do exactly this sort of thing dozens of times at home, should have called her the theif.

John Wayne - 1st - Could have easily gone to the G1 in dubai as there is nothing to split him and my other top 6f sprinter 'Randolph Scott' on trial form. Ran and won this with a lot spare in the tank and will be looking for money races from here, just a shame there was no place in the team for his son 'Fill your hands with lead'

Jump:

Couple of winners which is a very nice start, 2x 2nd and 2x 4th, overall the stable did well day one.

The Show - 2nd - Underlined his Champion Hurdle aspirations with a nice run, but left himself a lot to do and 'Eagle Bridge Boy' looked very impressive.

Hexbag - 1st - Delighted with her win, as she lept into contention for the team in only my last trial, had always been on the edges prior to that. Late run as per normal, world hurdle will be her aim, though will have to see how running mate 'Ground Pounder' fares later this week as there is little to split them at trial.

Messy Conclusion - Pulled up. Will do this a lot as she likes to run in the last group so at 3m+ the race kit will nobble her more often than not, easily stays to 3.4m making it all a bit daft. Will go and rape the handicaps for a bit.

Ever Seen the Rain - 6th - Left herself a lot to do and the jumping was less than fluid. Always my 2nd novice hurdler and will see time over fences. Fill in horse, decent enough first run

In Estate of Madness - Fell - Parted company with his jock at the second, will have to wait a little longer to see where he measures.

Gathering Pace - 12th - Bit of a head scratcher, may mark my 3m class as being especially poor this year, though really likes 3.2m+. Will see if this is form or just a bad run in the handicaps,

Kingdom of Ireland - 5th - Respectable run, with some late headway, but too much talent on display from others for to make up that sort of ground. Best I have in this distance and division unless I can get something trained.

Kingdom of Beasts - 2nd - Actually happy enough with this run, given he spent half the race running last and then had to go the long way round to make up ground. Smaller fields in the bigger races will help him, but 'Batton Rouge' did look imperious.

Legal Framework - 4th - Decent opening run, with some patchy jumping, stayed on well, just need to decide if she is a 2m or 2.4m league horse from here.

Eight to Lose - 4th - Good opening race for another horse I am unsure what her best distance in the league will be, 3m or 2,4m, expect I shall find out in the coming weeks.

The Irish Connection - 1st - Much as I enjoyed the win from this strong staying front runner, I am certain this girl will be going for the bigger juve hurdle races and may even take on the 5yo+ group. Need to check her 4yo stable mate at NHF next.

Jumps
Exactly as expected, they were absolutely useless, my best finish was a 10th! More of the same can be expected over the next 2 days

Flat
This was better, two 5th's and one 6th and a lot of mid division finishes indicate some use handicappers for the season ahead. I have two incredibly well handicapped horses, one due to boiling over in the preliminary's and the other due to being stopped in their tracks in a 5f race. In fact most of mine appear to have been given very fair and workable marks by Sirius. That means I won't know what to write about in the race card notes and I am sure Sirius will be very disappointed not to read my critiques .
What I think is my best ever horse is running tonight so I may well be very disappointed tomorrow.
Darren

Well done all winners, looks like I may be winning the race for the most places so far some good runs from my horses but just not quite there yet with a few places in both codes. Great to be back and looks very competitive

Flat

No winners today on the flat, but some good runs from my horses.

3 x 2nd places, 2 x 3rd places, 2 x 4th places and 1 x 5th place.

All the horses running today were jumps casteoffs, so very pleased with how they went. The only flat distances I bred as flat horses were sprinters and milers. Because most of my flat horses are jumps casteoffs, they all prefer soft ground, and I expect most of the flat going to be on the good to firm side, so they might struggle a little.

The most pleasing run had to be Jester Star Boy, ( a jumps casteoff), in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, who was just pipped on the line by Thunders horse.


Jumps

1 winner over fences today and 5 x 2nd places. So close and yet just not quite good enough.

The one winner today was Imperial Vale Boy who won the 2m 3f Hurricane Run Maiden with a good last jump.

My 2 mile and 2m 4f horses were hard to improve from last seasons horses, but they are very competetive with my 3 winners so far this season all being 2m or 2m 4f horses.

The big improvement I see this season is in my 3 mile plus horses. Last seasons 3 milers were middle of the pack runners, but today I had 3 longer distance horses finish in 2nd place. Now they will be off stiff handicaps, so it will be interesting to see how they go in future races.


I think the trainer we will have to look out for is Josh. That is 10 winners in 2 days for him, 5 on the flat and 5 over fences.


Thanks to the guys for the great commentary.

Well done to all the winners and placers.

Better start than I thought I would have with a winner on both Code

Knap - Won the 1m 4f Maiden might of been a weak Maiden due to Dubai running this week but I hope Sirius wont be to harsh

Frogger - Winning the Chase was a surprise but my 2m horses might be my best horses this Season.

Gray

A better day 2.

Jumps
An improvement on day 1 as I managed a few 8th places.

Flat
Amazingly I managed to win a maiden, impressively as well, in the 1m2f older horse maiden. No disrespect to anyone who finished behind but I think all the top trainers and horses were running in either the Winter Derby or the World Cup. The handicapper hasn't been too harsh with 106 but I suspect that even that mark flatters the horse.
What I think is my best horse finished 4th in the 1m4f maiden on totally unsuitable ground so that was ok and improvement will come.
The others were all mid division or worse but have workable marks as a result.

Well the start of the season has been a bit disappointing but I'm not totally shocked with how they have run , means I've got more horses to run in h'caps . What really is worrying about my team is how poor they have jumped so far, normally its one of the strengths of my team . I've not had the time to go full bore with my breeding and so I experimented with mixing my flat horses with my jumpers and the one thing I noticed when breeding them is the both jump bars go down and so far they have jumped awfully . Will see if that continues .

A big night for my jumps team tonight because my best hurdler Sir Ken and the best chaser I've had for nearly a year at 3 miles Golden Miller run, if they are not up to the job then its going to be a long season. Golden Miller dominated my 3 mile races for a year but I wouldn't put him in last season because I hate his running style but I finally relented because he was just about the best again, even though he's been my best I've never breed with him because he likes to race last in my trial races and I don't like horses like him .

Sir Ken was my best hurdler at 4 and 5 years of age, he's another one that's been my best for some time but he likes to race last and so I've never bred to him because of that.

Another good day with some generally pleasing performances, 2 wins on the flat and 3 on the jumps, plus if you overlook the pull up curse the whole jumps team was in top form today again, they keep this going and I'll have to bin 5 week five just to get some runs in.

Flat

Vanity - 6th - Not sure what she was doing with her front run, I guess there were no other front runners in the race and she should really hold up in the leading pack, faded poorly as a result, expect better to come if she gets it right.

Rainbow - 6th - Not disgraced, but likely puts her in pole position for the week 5 chop, have harboured my doubts about her quality in league company.

Fusion of Monsters - 4th - Not a bad run against some likely Derby competition, but still will need to find a little more going forward.

Its a London Thing - 1st - Top 1m horse I have breed and nice to see him perfrom at 1.1m, should have probabaly been my 2000 guineas horse, not his usual front running style but his turn of foot was on show today.

The Beasts Arrived - 1st - And arrived in style too, likes to leave it late but did not think he would run this field done from that far back. Another good indicator that my sprint development project has yielded dividends.

Shade - 6th - Knocked on the door for a bit and did not really find a lane, maybe lost his stride, or maybe is not up to snuff against this crowd, will get another shot, but I had been expecting better.

Jump

Snails Pace - 4th - Well in the running before clattering the last and losing position, not sure he would have had enough to change the result however.

Spartan Law- Pulled Up - Another 3m horse of mine who likes to loiter around at the back and challenge late, race kit however does not let these horses actually run, of the view I might just sack the lot of them off at week 5. Know she is good enough to run this.

Shesa Animal - 3rd - Underlines her Queen Mother aspiration with a solid performance, will have to find something special for overturn the likes 'Brilliance' however.

In Nomine Padre - 1st - Fast jump last and profited from a poor jump from 'Spiral Star', McCoy got her right today, nothing less than I would expect. Great opening run.

Fatal Moonshine - 3rd - Made some good late ground, but left himself a little too much to do, pleasing run never the less.

Snowstorm - Pulled Up - Well thats the complete set, all back running 3m chase horses pulled up this week, not going to lie, this pisses me off something awful as I know how they measure against G1 winner last year 'The Wraith'..................................

Eagle Has Landed - 2nd - Had this one I think, if he had not walked through the second from last, though nothing is certain and Jim's horses always offer stiff competition, (maybe we should have the stewards consider the 'dazzle' effect of them kinky boots ) He'll get it right at some point.

Ground Pounder - 1st - Well that makes it more difficult, with both my 3m hurdlers picking up wins this week, throws my world hurdle entry up in the air. Great final 2f from him and running down one of Jim's horses makes this a performance of quality.

Snail Trail - 1st - Something of a double edged sword this, delighted with the win, few fancied horses fell and he will now have a rating that is going the wrong way for the National. Imperious finish thought from 4f out never looked like being headed. Stays at least another 4f.

Fallen Shamrock - 6th - Not a disaster by any stretch of the imagination, but has a little more to find if she wants a spot in the winners circle.

Trainer on the move Josh hard work is paying off going to be a great season for you should be a belter of a championship
and we have Steve to come in yet too he always has top notch horses.