Sunday 7 April

Smart Exit has an entry, and if the ground doesn't dry up too much, is an intended runner in a 3m 2f Novices Chase in Fontwell on Thursday. Their ground is currently Good, Good To Soft in places and there is rain forecast mid week so all should be well. Unfortunately, due to the crazy new Novice Chase rules where every horse has to run in one novice chase before it can compete off of it's hurdles handicap rating, it looks as though we should not expect too much as there are horses entered in the race that have significantly higher hurdles ratings. As there are no hurdle races for him for a few weeks, it is the right thing to do, to get this chase run out of the way. Saying that, he has schooled brilliantly over fences, and all the lads that have ridden him have said he is crying out for a fence, so we hope to see him be very competitive when he is allowed to run in the right grade. He will not run if there is any mention of firm in the going description. I did not get to Fences Farm yesterday but Stuart reported that Benefit Cut breezed off the top very well, and we will look at races in about 10 days time, starting with a novices hurdle in Kempton a week on Wednesday.