Promising start for Million Thanks

Million Thanks was nominated as an unraced two year old to watch out for in the Autumn Update. The son of Churchill could only finish second on his racecourse debut at Ayr on Tuesday but he shaped with plenty of promise for the future. Trained by Kevin Ryan, he attempted to make all and seemingly had all of his rivals in trouble entering the final quarter mile of the eight furlongs maiden. Unfortunately, he couldn't withstand the late thrust of the once raced Mr Alan (had shaped encouragingly in a seven furlongs novice stakes at Yarmouth in late May which has worked out particularly well) and was beaten two and a quarter lengths. His trainer has enjoyed a very good season with his juveniles - 30 winners - and they have invariably improved for their initial outing. Expect something similar from Million Thanks next time.

Looking through the entries for later in the week, including over the weekend, the jumps season is slowly but steadily going through the gears with some interesting horses set to appear over the next few days. Of particular interest are a couple of French recruits who both feature in the new edition of One Jump Ahead - one is trained in the UK and the other now resides across the Irish Sea. As discussed, the French Revolution section in OJA has produced some household names during the last couple of seasons - expect more of the same from this season's offering. Many of which won't be found in any other publication of its type.

Chepstow stage a terrific two day fixture on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th October. Paul Nicholls invariably targets the meeting and speaking to the former champion trainer last month, he is planning to send a big team to the Welsh track next week. Indeed, Paul ran 15 horses at the fixture in 2020 and their form figures were 141121212115F14. There are 102 horses featured in Paul's interview in the Talking Trainers section of One Jump Ahead - find out which horses are expected to be crossing the border early next month. 

If you haven't already ordered a copy of One Jump Ahead, please head to the Publications section of the site. There are full details of the 196 pages, plus the OJA Updates.

STOP PRESS: A Different Kind (11/10) was the latest winner in the Talking Trainers section in OJA when scoring by 15 lengths on his Rules debut in a bumper at Sedgefield on Tuesday. His trainer Donald McCain commented on page 81: "Derek O'Connor recommended him having ridden him to finish second in his only point-to-point in Ireland. He finished his race off well and is a grand sort. We might run him in a bumper before going hurdling."