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December 24 Alan has an early start on Boxing Day as Es Perfecto is in the opener at Kempton, trying to go two places better than he did in this novice handicap chase last year. Es Perfecto has [...]

December 23 Egbert reminds me very much of a few human beings in racing I know. For those tricky two-legged customers, in cricket parlance, “the first over is crucial”, and I’ll [...]

December 19 Alan has twice won Ascot’s valuable Ladbrokes premier handicap hurdle, and, being doubly-represented in Saturday’s renewal with Favour And Fortune and 2021 winner [...]

December 17 One of the most exciting novices in the yard, Don’t Mind If I Do confirmed the promise he showed on his debut at Warwick when bolting up by 15 lengths in the maiden hurdle at [...]

Before taking his place with 400 others in the beautiful Cheltenham College Chapel on Thursday, where fellow trainers, owners, press and friends and family of Alastair Down’s gathered for [...]

December 8 As we feared, Jonbon was back to his best and dominated Saturday’s Tingle Creek Chase for a back-to-back success in Sandown’s Grade 1 race, but it was just a shame that [...]

With three winners and two places from just seven runners this month, Alan is well pleased with the form of the Barbury team, and long-term the sky could be the limit for Ski Lift, who jumped [...]

December 3 Alan made the perfect start to December when Irish-recruit Baron Noir and the consistent Theonlywayiswessex both won at Plumpton on Monday, and, being a big fan of Ski Lodge, I am full [...]

Alan has made no secret of the fact that he rates his novice chasers this season an above-average crop, and maybe we saw the best so far at Newbury today in Masaccio, who ran a corker to chase [...]

Newbury won’t seem quite the same today without Emitom, who can boast two wins and three seconds on our local course from just five visits, having only joined our Barbury stable nine months [...]