Ary and Berky

Two runners on Saturday - Prince Ary at Kempton and Berkhamsted at Lingfield, both with realistic chances.

Prince Ary I jointly own with John Harvey (in his wife's name) - John used to own a lot of horses in the UK but has far fewer these days. Ary was bought by John (with a partner) to run on the flat - Barry Hills felt later on that he would make a better jumper and at that time I bought the original partner out. Hills had originally asked to train the horse himself for Cheltenham - I took this as a good indication (he rarely trains jumpers) so I came in quickly without checking the horse out. It cost me £20k - rather than leave him with Hills we took him to David Pipe.

He ran in a hot Cheltenham race first time out and was (not surprisingly) well beaten. Next time up at Fakenham he hacked up at 7-1, which I thought was a massive price given that Pipe had run him in the Cheltenham race (his choice not ours). He was given an official rating of 129 following the run, which is pretty stiff - that doesn't affect us today as this is a novice hurdle.

The going at Kempton is soft, although we think it's "decent soft" ground, which should be ok - ideally we'd like it a little firmer but we know he handles it. He has to give 6lb to Pouvoir which is a big ask - he is, I am told, in extremely good form, so I'm hopeful.

Berkhamsted runs in the 2.35 at Lingfield. I saw Tom Dascombe at the races and I said we could try to pick up a horse in a claimer some time. He went out and claimed Berkhamsted the next day, and I took him. I bought the horse as a trade hoping to sell him on in the October HIT - that didn't work out, and I am now planning to sell him in the Doncaster January sale.

When he first came to us he was very nervy about going racing and was sweating up terribly beforehand - he seems to be a lot happier and more settled now. His last three runs have been decent - two seconds (trading 1.05 and 1.01 in running) and a third. He has travelled well throughout his recent races, but has not quite pushed on as he should when hitting the front.

Tom tells me that Berky works exceptionally well at home and on that basis could compete in higher grade races than this - he is just proving difficult to win with. If the race is run at a decent pace and if he doesn't find himself in front too early then we have a great chance of a result. He might be one to back and lay back in running as he travels so well - unfortunately I can't do that as I am the owner and laying your own horse isn't allowed.

Master of the Race and Conservation both came back fine and scoped clean after their races. Both trainers think the ground was ultimately against them as it was very soft, which I think favours the rangier NH bred types over recruits from the flat. Time will tell us more.