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It's coming up to the heart of the National Hunt season and plans for Donald's star names are taking shape.
The countdown to Cheltenham is well and truly on now and it's time for an update on the plans for some of the stable's bigger names.
Firstly, you may have noticed that Clondaw Kaempfer wasn't among the entries for the Neptune - we were advised that we should give him more time to get over his race at Newbury and he will now be trained with Aintree in mind. It's a blow as he's a cracking prospect but he's still got time on his side.
Secondly, I am constantly being asked about the plans for Cinders And Ashes and it's looking increasingly likely that he will go straight to the Champion Hurdle.
Looking through the calendar, the likelihood is that all the suitable races for him between now and Cheltenham will be on soft ground and I don't want to run him on it again.
Hopefully Cheltenham might have dried out a bit by March and that's the day he has been trained for all season.
Looking back to last week, I was pleased with the way Peddlers Cross ran at Kempton. He didn't win but he had a proper blow afterwards and it should have brought him on considerably.
The main thing was that he came out of the race well - he was right as rain the following morning and that was a relief given he had a few issues last season.
It's now a case of finding the right race for him so as we can finalise his plans for Cheltenham.
It was obviously very frustrating to see Our Mick unseat Jason at Cheltenham on Saturday but I was delighted with the race he was running until he came down.
He will have come on a good deal for that run and the plan is now to head for the 3m handicap chase at the Festival that he was third in last year - you would have to think he could go close off his current mark granted a clear round.
It was harder to take encouragement from Weird Al's performance - the ground would have been softer than ideal and he might not be totally in love with Cheltenham but he has to be viewed as very disappointing.
We'll probably try and find another race for him quite quickly - he's still showing up well at home - and hopefully we can get him back on track.
He's one of five I have entered in this year's Grand National and, at this stage, it would be his main target. He is likely to be joined there by both Ballabriggs and Across The Bay - Fabalu would need to go up in the weights to get in while Cloudy Lane would also have the Foxhunters as an alternative.
Finally, followers of She Ranks Me will be pleased to know that she wasn't sold at Cheltenham last week. She didn't make her reserve and will now head to a mares' listed event at Sandown in a couple of weeks.
After that, she'll go to Cheltenham with any luck - you wouldn't think she would be good enough there but she's so tough that you wouldn't rule out a big run from her. Either way, she's been a star so far this season and you wouldn't mind a yard full of horses like her.
It's coming up to the heart of the National Hunt season and plans for Donald's star names are taking shape.
The countdown to Cheltenham is well and truly on now and it's time for an update on the plans for some of the stable's bigger names.
Firstly, you may have noticed that Clondaw Kaempfer wasn't among the entries for the Neptune - we were advised that we should give him more time to get over his race at Newbury and he will now be trained with Aintree in mind. It's a blow as he's a cracking prospect but he's still got time on his side.
Secondly, I am constantly being asked about the plans for Cinders And Ashes and it's looking increasingly likely that he will go straight to the Champion Hurdle.
Looking through the calendar, the likelihood is that all the suitable races for him between now and Cheltenham will be on soft ground and I don't want to run him on it again.
Hopefully Cheltenham might have dried out a bit by March and that's the day he has been trained for all season.
Looking back to last week, I was pleased with the way Peddlers Cross ran at Kempton. He didn't win but he had a proper blow afterwards and it should have brought him on considerably.
The main thing was that he came out of the race well - he was right as rain the following morning and that was a relief given he had a few issues last season.
It's now a case of finding the right race for him so as we can finalise his plans for Cheltenham.
It was obviously very frustrating to see Our Mick unseat Jason at Cheltenham on Saturday but I was delighted with the race he was running until he came down.
He will have come on a good deal for that run and the plan is now to head for the 3m handicap chase at the Festival that he was third in last year - you would have to think he could go close off his current mark granted a clear round.
It was harder to take encouragement from Weird Al's performance - the ground would have been softer than ideal and he might not be totally in love with Cheltenham but he has to be viewed as very disappointing.
We'll probably try and find another race for him quite quickly - he's still showing up well at home - and hopefully we can get him back on track.
He's one of five I have entered in this year's Grand National and, at this stage, it would be his main target. He is likely to be joined there by both Ballabriggs and Across The Bay - Fabalu would need to go up in the weights to get in while Cloudy Lane would also have the Foxhunters as an alternative.
Finally, followers of She Ranks Me will be pleased to know that she wasn't sold at Cheltenham last week. She didn't make her reserve and will now head to a mares' listed event at Sandown in a couple of weeks.
After that, she'll go to Cheltenham with any luck - you wouldn't think she would be good enough there but she's so tough that you wouldn't rule out a big run from her. Either way, she's been a star so far this season and you wouldn't mind a yard full of horses like her.
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