It was a day for the mudlarks on Saturday and I thought there were some noteworthy performances. Reverence and Peppertree Lane have done well for my list to follow and both notched their 4th wins of the current campaign.
Reverence probably only just stayed the 6 furlongs in the bottomless ground at Haydock and the old warrior Quito was flying at him over the last 100 yards. The point with Quito is that he stays 7 furlongs and in that testing ground he was always likely to be staying on when others had packed it in.
Peppertree Lane is another who likes the soft ground. He was expertly ridden by Kevin Darley to shake off the challenge of the persistent Quizzene.
A couple of ex Russellform horses to follow also enjoyed the conditions. Cape Royal has bags of speed and shot out of the stalls to make every yard under Jamie Spencer. Spencer was also on board Zero Tolerance who also won his arce using front running atctics. This was his 8th career won and nost have been on soft or heavy ground. Kenmore, who finished fast behind Cape Royal looks one for the notebook.
There was a decent maiden at Kempton where the 3 horses named in my preview finished 1st, 2nd and 4th. Water Mill, Black Rock and Ideally all look worth following.
As we move into the autumn period of the flat season it seems an opportune time to look at the performance of the horses on our list to follow.
If we judge by number of wins than Alambic is way out on front with 6. The “chasing pack” are made up like this.
4 wins – Liberate, Warsaw Pact, Reverence & Peppertree Lane
3 wins – Alexandrova, Cool Customer, Moss Vale and Prince Picasso.
If we measure by starting price the best prices have been as follows.
Classic Punch 25/1: Blythe Knight 22/1: Ordnance Row 20/1.
These have all won at 16/1 – Consular, Meikle Barfil, Zomerlust.
14/1 – Cesare
12/1 – Borderlescott (also 10s), Celtic Carisma, Fear to Tread, Sant Elena, Warsaw Pact.
There are a smattering of runners from our list in action at Monday’s various meetings.
Kerriemuir Lass deserves to get her head in front. She seems genuine enough but keeps finding o0ne too good for her. She runs in the 4.10 at Bath.
Kerriemuir Lass has been runner up 4 times this season, but Phone In beats that with 5 2nds. He has changed stables since the start of the season and does not look one to trust. He goes in the 4.40.
The going up at Newcastle looks likely to be soft at best and that will no doubt influence the results.
Mark Johnston’s Love Dubai looks like being a short priced favourite. Captain Jacksparra might be the likely threat.
Compromiznotension looked promising in his first couple of starts but then seemed to go backwards. Has changed stables since and a change of scene may have put him back on course. He runs in the 4.30.
In the Warwick 2.20 Radical Views and Master of Destiny should both have come on for their debut runs while Ballet Boy is a Sadler’s Wells colt and half brother to a German 1,000 guineas winner.
Thabaat showed plenty of promise on his debut at Newbury and looks the one to beat in the 2.50. The unraced Slate is by Rock of Gibraltar and comes from a winning line on the dam’s side.
In the 3.50 Alambic goes for her 7th win of the season. The way she galloped her rivals into the ground 4 days ago you wouldn’t bet against her.
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