Saturday 17th January 2015

Rod Trow who is Dr Newland’s assistant trainer and who's helped Value Racing Club on numerous occasions is fulfilling a lifetime ambition by riding in a horse race. Rod has amazingly made 1^st reserve in the Cheltenham Festival charity race, please see the below link:

http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/article/465/9592142/12-riders-announced-for-2015-st-patricks-derby-at-the-cheltenham-festival

We hope somebody might drop out and Rod gets to ride at the Cheltenham Festival live on TV, last year both reserves made the race so our fingers are firmly crossed.

However if everybody stands their ground Rod will be riding at Newbury next month in another charity race whilst it’s possible he could do both. Newbury will still be a thrilling experience for Rod who is running miles each day and riding out for Dr Newland every morning in preparation.

Rod will have the Value Racing Club name and logo on his silks and I really want to help him raise his £4000 target and beyond for the Greatwood charity which re-trains ex-racehorses to educate disadvantaged children and those youngsters with special educational needs.

I would be hugely grateful if you would kindly donate a few pounds and help Rod towards his goal whilst support the excellent Greatwood charity.

Please see Rod’s just giving page below.

https://www.justgiving.com/Rod-Trow/

Many thanks in advance for you support

A few weeks ago Own1 asked me to do a Q&A with them on running horse racing syndicates, the feature went live yesterday and can be viewed by the following the below link:

http://www.own1.co.uk/news.asp

All eyes will be on Sprinter Sacre this afternoon who returns after a spell on the sidelines with an irregular heartbeat, it’s seems to be common knowledge his trainer Nicky Henderson has struggled to get the horse back onto the racecourse but thankfully the best two mile chaser we’ve seen for a long time and possibly ever makes his return in the 3:00 at Ascot this afternoon.

Priced at 11-10, that could look huge after the race and we could be all kicking ourselves for not lumping on whilst if back to his best Sprinter Sacre has about 2 stone in hand today. However if the horse was showing all his normal sparkle at home why is he not a 1-3 shot?

I’m certainly not backing him and not laying him either and get the feeling connections don’t really know what to expect, if Sprinter Sacre gets beat I fear we'll not see him again.

Somersby at 10-1 EW "2 places" is the professional bet in the race. The horse loves Ascot and Barry Geraghty won't take any risks on Sprinter Sacre, if he's not moving well could be pulled up and that would make Somersby a very big price.

The New One should pick up another £42,000 in the Stan James Champion Hurdle trial, it seems the Champion Hurdle candidates do everything possible to avoid each other until the Festival it’s self, with 42k for the winner I would be telling my trainer to enter and run, especially with big money also up for grabs for the placed horses.