Diamond King impresses at Galway

The likes of Don Cossack and Last Instalment made their chasing debuts at Galway in recent seasons and a stablemate of the former, namely Diamond King, made a lasting impression on his first run over fences at the same venue this afternoon. Contesting the two and a quarter mile beginners' chase, last season's Coral Cup winner was partnered by Davy Russell and he produced a slick round of jumping before readily pulling clear after the final fence. Gordon Elliott's eight year old ran out a fourteen lengths winner and set up a possible tilt at the Grade 1 Drinmore Novice Chase at Fairyhouse (27th November). In all likelihood, he will have one more run beforehand. He looks a most exciting recruit to chasing and looks tailormade for the JLT Novice Chase at the Festival in March. Only his age (he will be nine next spring) would put me off but he remains low mileage and couldn't be in better hands. Indeed, the Elliott team are in splendid form and his interview in One Jump Ahead is proving very informative, to say the least. The only surprising aspect of Diamond's King win today was his starting price - 4/5 was an unbelievable price. His owners, the Whateleys, have made a dream start to the season with Jetstream Jack, Rock The Kasbah, Wishfull Dreaming and now Diamond King all scoring within the last seven days.

It was frustrating to see Innocent Girl hit the deck at Huntingdon in her bid to make it a quick fire three timer. Harry Fry's mare had jumped well until the point of departure and it must be described as a soft fall because she didn't jump the fence badly. She, unfortunately, failed to get her landing gear out. Hopefully she will be none the worse and more wins are around the corner. Today's two and a half miles handicap chase wouldn't have taken a lot of winning and it is a missed opportunity.

I have a few horses in mind for the Email Service later this week - on Thursday and Friday - just in case any clients were thinking I had forgotten about them. I want to see the final declarations but there are some interesting entries at the likes of Carlisle, Uttoxeter and Wincanton. Please check back here tomorrow evening to see if I have sent out a selection.