1st Edmond
Edmond, A seven year old horse who's poor jumping meant that he was hardly heard of last year but this season has sprung to life.
For us regular Chepstow followers he has been a revelation and has become a Chepstow specialist winning both his previous starts at the course this year.
So it was not with great surprise that we cheered home this horse to finish first in the seasons best Welsh Steeplechase.
There was never any doubt that the horse liked the course and indeed there was little doubt about the going, but the distance was an unknown ,
but he always looked like he would get the trip.
Edmonds Jumping this year has been the reason that the horse has done so well, it has improved so much that he hardly made an error through the
race and in the heavy going, its quite often the mistakes at fences that takes it out of the horses.
His bold front running style is also suited to the Welsh track and his start to finish front running saw him through well.
So what has the future in hold for the horse? well all his previous wins have been on gd/sft or softer but he has won on 7 different tracks.
His win/run ratio is very good with 9 wins from 15 runs. It would be very easy to get carried away with this performance but as he is only a 7 year old there could still be some improvement in him.
He is one to follow for the rest of this season and given soft ground could be a lively contender in The Grand National.
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Henry Daly
Henry Daly has now come out of the shadow of his mentor Capt. Tim Forster. Henry inherited the horses from The Captain after
his sad death two years ago and since then has trained horses in the same way as his predecessor. He spent a long time as assistant to Tim
and it should not be surprising that he trains the type of horse that love long distance chases. Henry said after the race "that this would have been
The Captains idea of perfection" and you could see from the emotion that it was also perhaps his. A trainer in his second year he will now come of age and
we will no longer say Tim Forster's ex assistant and will now say Henry Daly a good trainer in his own right.
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Richard Johnson
Richard Johnson is a jockey is enjoying good success as a jockey since taking over as the first jockey at Jackdaw Castle from Adrian Maguire.
He must have been releived as well as very happy to win the Welsh National as he was allowed by the now Jackdaw Castle Alan King and the
connections of the second horse today Forest Ivory to ride Edmond.
Richard is seen here with ' Banana ' coloured hair to help raise money for the ' Scott Taylor appeal ' Along with a few of his friends. Who knows perhaps he
will keep this colour and the luck that goes with it!
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2nd Forest Ivory
Last years third has moved up one place this year after what has to be said a disappointing time since finishing last years race.
he was dropped 13 lbs since last year and his two runs previously this term have been nothing special
and if you consider that his regular stable jockey decided to ride another horse you would not perhaps have given him much chance,
but his first run in blinkers seems to have sharpened him up and he was looking very good in the paddock.
His jockey gave him a great ride and the horse gave his best, and his second was a very good and creditable run.
At 8 years old who knows if the blinkers keep up the improvement
he could pick up a good race or two this year.
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Alan King
Another Trainer who has taken over from a master of National Hunt, Alan King took over recently from David Nicholson and is now doing well in
his own right. His decision to put the blinkers on Forest Ivory seemed to do the trick.
A Trainer to look out for as he has many good horses in his charge.
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Warren Marston
Warren Marston was the stable jockey for David Nicholson for some years before moving on to be Jenny Pitmans Stable jockey.
Therefore it would not have been too much of a surprise for him to ride for Mr. Nicholsons replacement . He is a good top class jockey who has had many high class wins including
wins at the Cheltenham festival. He gave Forest Ivory every chance and indeed the horse ran well for him and was staying on at the Finish.
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3rd Earthmover
This horse was a very good point to pointer and after a very impressive win of The Cheltenham Foxhunters in 1998 has lost his way.
However this season he is starting to find some of his old form, and his 5th in the Hennessy earlier this year and now this third may mean
that he is well on the way back. He ran a good race today despite being a bit one paced.
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Paul Nicholls
Paul Nicholls is of course one of the finest national hunt trainers we have in this country.
He came second only to Martin Pipe in the trainers championship last year.
He has some fabulous horses in his charge including last years Cheltenham Gold Cup winner See More business who two days ago
franked his well being by winning the King George at Cheltenham. He is a great trainer who always turns out his horses fit and well and was said to have been happy with Earthmovers performance today.
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Joe Tizzard
Joe Tizzard at 20 years old is still a young jockey but already has landed one of the biggest jobs in the game by being stable jockey to Paul Nicholls.
he first hit the headlines when he was given permission by the Jockey club to ride in the Grand National at the age of 17 when he had not ridden the statutory amount of winners.
He is a good stylish jockey who will do as well in the future as he has done up to now.
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