JOKER A GAME CHANGER AT WOLVERHAMPTON<\/p>\n
After finishing empty handed at our \u2018home\u2019 fixture at Yarmouth on Week 1\u00a0it was hugely satisfying to storm to the top of the table with a grandstand finish at Wolverhampton last week.<\/p>\n
Danny Muscutt\u2019s win in the penultimate race on Kevin Philippart de Foy\u2019s favourite put some much-needed points on the board but my decision to play my Joker in the last race proved a game changer.<\/p>\n
Watch every contest on Race Week 3 of the Racing League from Chepstow live on\u00a0Sky Sports Racing\u00a0(Sky 415 | Virgin 519) on Thursday 7th August.<\/p>\n
Even though Sir Mark Prescott\u2019s was agonisingly denied, the double points we accumulated for his performance and Fox Avatar\u2019s fifth place finish were enough to see us leapfrog Matt Chapman\u2019s London & The\u00a0South.<\/p>\n
Now we\u2019re on top we\u2019ve got to work even harder to stay there at a fixture that historically we\u2019ve struggled at. I\u2019ve already used both my Jokers so there will be no prospect of double points on Jamie Osborne\u2019s home patch as he attempts to claw his reigning champions Wales and The West back into contention after falling out of the gates.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve given ourselves every chance, however, with a maximum 14 runners across the seven races which I think sends out a big statement of intent to our rivals. I\u2019ve been strategic in putting together my team specifically to bolster our chances at this fixture and couldn\u2019t be happier with our entries.<\/p>\n
If we can get through this round and next week at Windsor \u2013 another fixture we have struggled at – with a reasonable points return I really do believe this could be the year The East reigns victorious.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m particularly excited to have that excellent training \u2018combo\u2019 of Dr Richard Newland and Jamie Insole on board following their tremendous success in the Lennox Stakes at last week\u2019s Qatar Goodwood Festival with Witness Stand. They train relatively close to Chepstow in Worcestershire and have convinced me to run both <\/a> (6.00)<\/a> and <\/a> (5.30)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Great Blasket won at the track in June before following up in a better race at Sandown Park just last week and gets in without a penalty as that was restricted to apprentice riders. That means he\u2019s 5lb well in according to his revised rating so he\u2019s sure to run well. What a pity I\u2019ve used up my Jokers!<\/p>\n Dave Evans, who is based in Wales, of course, was another trainer I was keen to sign up as he has such an excellent record at Chepstow. His <\/a> won back-to-back races over 7f there earlier in the summer and strengthens our cause in the 7.00<\/a> over the same trip.<\/p>\n Joining Ultramarine in that heat is my own <\/a> who I\u2019m hoping can supplement his latest win at Epsom in the safe hands of Callum Shepherd, who takes his first rides for The East this season and is in for what could be a productive night with six chances.<\/p>\n Jersey ran out an easy winner at the Surrey track and having also coped well at Brighton I\u2019m expecting him to be at home on the undulations. The handicapper\u2019s put him up 10lb for that breakthrough success but I was keen to let him take his chance in this better race as he\u2019s really blossomed.<\/p>\n Kevin Philippart de Foy\u2019s <\/a> must give lumps of weight to his rivals in the \u00a375,000 feature at 6.30<\/a> but he is the proverbial Group horse in a handicap off a rating of 106. A dual Listed winner, he was second in the Group 2 City Of York Stakes a year ago and is joined by Stan Moore\u2019s <\/a>, himself boasting Pattern form after finishing fourth in the Group 3 Commonwealth Cup Trial in the spring.<\/p>\n I had such a strong hand in that race at entry stage that I couldn\u2019t even accommodate the excellent Roger Varian, who was keen to run one of his. Roger\u2019s a top man and accepted my decision without question which demonstrates the team spirit we have in our ranks.<\/p>\n Partnering Vafortino is the excellent Danny Muscutt who is second only to Richard Kingscote in the battle to become the Racing League\u2019s top jockey. Danny\u2019s been busy in the opening two weeks so I don\u2019t want him to use up his permitted number of rides too quickly. He will only be in action three times but Vafortino, Ultramarine and especially his boss James Fanshawe\u2019s <\/a> (8.30)<\/a> are all capable of keeping his name in lights.<\/p>\n Another trainer who has been a star for me is my Newmarket neighbour Stuart Williams. He has four runners on the night including the prolific <\/a>, who has won five of his last seven starts and should give Marco Ghiani a great ride in the finale at\u00a08.30<\/a>. I\u2019m delighted to have Marco as my latest addition to the team as he can do those crucial light weights.<\/p>\n I\u2019m also hopeful that Stuart\u2019s ultra-consistent sprinter <\/a> can put some vital points on the board in the 5f dash (7.00)<\/a>, along with Harry Eustace\u2019s reliable <\/a>. Both have strong place claims at the very least and those points can make all the difference.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until the penultimate race at Wolverhampton last week that we had a winner but our horses had been running so well that we were in a strong enough position to capitalise once we did.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, I won\u2019t be shouting instructions from the sidelines at Chepstow as I\u2019m stealing a much-needed break with my family in Portugal but all the hard work has been done and everyone knows their job. Needless to say I\u2019ll be watching from afar, hoping we can build on such an excellent start as we reach the half-way stage.<\/p>\n Charlie Fellowes was speaking to Sky Sports Racing\u2019s Simon Mapletoft.<\/p>\n Watch every contest on Race Week 3 of the Racing League from Chepstow live on\u00a0Sky Sports Racing\u00a0(Sky 415 | Virgin 519) on Thursday 7th August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JOKER A GAME CHANGER AT WOLVERHAMPTON After finishing empty handed at our \u2018home\u2019 fixture at Yarmouth on Week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-47693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}