I have just got back from a few days in France and I have been catching up on the racing news.
I was particularly interested in the race won by Star de Mohaison and having watched the video there was much to like about the performance of both the winner, and the runner up, The Listener. They had pulled a long way clear of the other 2 runners. I would tend to agree with the various commentators who have pointed out that The Listener was not given an especially aggressive ride by Andrew Thornton and if theses two old rivals were to meet again you could not predict the outcome with any degree of certainty.
Into The Shadows earned reward for some consistent recent efforts when landing the extended 2m 4f handicap hurdle at Wetherby This was her 8th career success, split equally between flat and hurdles and she has been a typically versatile servant to her trainer.
Wetherby tends to favour course specialists and is certainly a venue for the “horses for courses” followers. Silver Knight scored his 4th win at the Yorkshire track on Saturday and they have all come over 25 furlongs. Everyone likes a grey horse it seems, evidence Desert Orchid, Rooster Booster etc. and Silver Knight is something of a favourite of mine. I first noticed him when he won a bumper at Doncaster in 2002 and he went on to finish 6th in the Aintree Festival bumper that season in a race where Iris’s Gift was runner up and Thisthatandtother 5th.
Silver Knight won off a mark of 121 on Saturday. He won the same race last season, off exactly the same mark. Kerry Lads was second and Jungle Jinks 3rd. Kerry Lads is trained by my namesake Lucunda Russell, not that my name is Lucinda! He is 11 now and has won 7 times over fences, the last twice at Wetherby. He was running off a mark 2 lbs higher than his highest previous winning mark on Saturday so his turn may not be far away. 3 miles on soft or heavy ground is his game.
Jungle Jinks who is also 11 has won 5 times at Wetherby. He has now run there 4 times this season with form figures of 0313. These 3 will no doubt be in opposition at Wetherby again before the season is out.
Talking of favourite horses, Aldiniti will rank among many people’s top ten.. When he won the 1981 Grand National both horse, and jockey Bob Champion had recovered from life threatening illness and injury. Interestingly Bob Champion should have known what it takes to win a National as he had sat on 4 previous winners during his career. He won an Eider Chase on Highland Wedding, won a novice chase on Rag Trade, “rode out” on Rubstic and also rode Corbiere although that horse unseated him in a novice chase.
Bit I digress. Back to the present day Royal Shakespeare made his debut over fences this afternoon at Fakenham. He was not far off the top over hurdles and won the BHB Order of Merit last season (or at least shared the prize with Monkerhostin). He was beaten today though by Paul Nicholl’s Twist Magic. When Twist Magic first came to the UK it was clear that he was only biding his time over hurdles and he was always the proverbial embryo chaser. He has been likened to another inmate of the Nicholls yard, My Will and I will be watching his progress with interest.
Racing tomorrow comes from Fontwell and Sedgefield. Martin Pipe won the opener in both 2001 and 2002. The aptly named Trainedbythebest and Old California, who was later to fall fatally in the Triumph Hurdle being the winners those years. David Pipe must have a good chance of claiming the prize this year with Raslan, a well bred type frpom the flat who won a couple of times on the level at Warwick over 2 miles.
The only runner from our list to follow is Great Approach in the 2.50. He showed modest form last season in 3 runs over hurdles but he is bred to be much better over fences and he has his first run in that sphere tomorrow. He is bred for the job as he is a half-brother to smart but quirky staying chaser Harwell Lad (Whitbread winner) and two winning pointers. The dam was an unraced half-sister to Hennessy winner Approaching. He is by Simply Great, the same sire as Silver Knight.
If you want a “silly bet” you could always try a win double on Warne’s Way (Fontwell 12.40) and Flintoff (Fontwell 1.40).
That is about it for tonight. See you tomorrow.
ahorse 