Equinties - has Dan cooked it?

Gm Equinauts

Note for BGP Capital buyers: invoice and invoice reminder are with you, please check spam and junk. Only a few days of the week left to get paid up. All payments will be reconciled over the weekend, ahead of the sales.

Anyway, let’s dive in.

Headline Roundup

Page Fuller suffers stroke mid-air

Page Fuller revealed earlier this week that she suffered a mini stroke whilst jumping a fence onboard TOUCHTHESOUL at Fontwell last Friday. As you can see from the clip (published in the Sun), Page jumps the fence and repeatedly turns to try see the other riders and then abruptly pulls her mount up. She had gone blind in her right eye and was immediately sent to a nearby hospital in Swindon.

An MRI shows a small artery tear in her neck had clotted and caused the stroke. It is thought that her fall last week at Plumpton might be the cause.

Page is still in hospital but is confident she’ll be out this week to continue rehab at Oaksey House in Lambourn. All of us at BGP Capital wish a full and speedy recovery to our good friend, Page.

Whispers Skelton is in the bin

Strong rumours are going around that Dan Skelton is set to lose his license for a lengthy (but indefinite) period of time.

If anyone doesn’t know, it’s reported he robbed some owners of A LOT of money by selling them a yak he part-owned but didn’t disclose. The short of it is, the owners were (rightly) fucked off and have taken it all the way to the High Court where a decision will be made soon.

Apparently, Dan currently has someone in the yard (can’t remember his name) slowly taking over the running of things. If Dan is banned, he won’t be able to even sniff his yard this season and will have completely ruined his chances of taking on the big players like Nicholls and Hendo.

What blows my mind is that he didn’t need to do it. The Skelton’s are rich af. Why try and nick 40k from a backhander? So stupid.

Arc injuries

Aidan O’Brien’s LUXEMBOURG and Jane Chapple-Hyam’s SAFFRON BEACH are unlikely to feature in the remainder of this season as both horses have sustained setbacks following their engagements over the weekend.

O’Brien’s CAMELOT three-year-old pulled a muscle near his hip in the early stages of Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, a race he finished seventh in, only seven and a half lengths behind APLINISTA – the master of Ballydoyle reports he was “lame and very, very sore after the race” and there is “no chance you will see him again this year”.

As for SAFFRON BEACH, the daughter of NEW BAY was sent off as the 6/4 favourite for Saturday’s Gr1 Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket but could only muster eighth place, a full 16 lengths behind the winner FONTEYN.

Chapple-Hyam said she scoped dirty following an inspection back at her Dalham-based yard and is now on a course of antibiotics to recover.

She is now unlikely to head to her intended Breeders’ Cup target at the end of the year, but before that she will go through the sales ring at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.

More:

No rest for the champ

Arc-winning jockey Luke Morris was in no mood to take a day off yesterday as he rode a 106/1 double at Wolverhampton.

He began the evening by bolting up on ARAB CINDER for William Knight in the opener at 7/1 before going on to pick up victory nearly two hours later on the 12/1 shot FLY THE NEST, leading home a 1-2 for trainer Tony Carroll.

When the intern rang him up and asked if it meant more to ride an Arc winner or a Wolves winner, he declined to answer.

The in-form man is off to Southwell today for a bumper book of six rides.

Soumillon tinned

The Aga Khan has sacked Soumillon! On the face of it, a great result but it’ll be interesting to see if they actually stick to their word on it. Note the little disclaimer - “…Soumillon may still ride in the Aga Khan silks on occasions”. Hmmm.

Risk On

There are two good bets coming up this week which I’m going to need some ammo for and the racing is pretty shit today. That said, I’m going to have a small play on a leveraged single because Hendo’s yard is in such good form.

13.40 LELANTOS

This race is tight on numbers, but LELANTOS should win on his chasing debut. He jumps fine and has been mixing it with some higher rated hurdlers already, so could be well handicapped. Hendo form bangs right now and he only really has Fergals to beat, but he had a bad fall lto so happy to take him on at 6/4.

14.15 COLLECTORS ITEM

JJ is in form atm, he’s had a couple of nice bumper horses win recently in ARE U WISE TO THAT and ITSO FURY (they should have been strong bets really, but I like to see yard form at the start of the season) and COLLECTORS ITEM looks like he could be one of the nicer types. He has a very high action suggesting he needs cut in the ground, which he doesn’t get today but he’s so clear on numbers he’s worth taking a chance on at even money and add to a bet as 2x leverage.

The leverage single pays just over 4/1. Small stakes.