I managed to find a few winners this weekend, especially over the jumps. I was particularly impressed with the performance of Argento Luna at Huntingdon. She showed signs of temperament before the start, although certainly not during the race, and as long as she doesn’t spoil her chances in the preliminaries we should hear a lot more of her. She was given a good ride by the underrated Dominic Elsworth.
As usual I will concentrate mainly on the horses from my list to follow in this preview of the meetings on Monday and Tuesday, which are all on the flat.
At Pontefract in the 3.10 Navajo Jo and By Command are the runners from my list. Both won earlier in the season but have disappointed since. They finished 8th and 9th respectively at Sandown last month. Both wore blinkers for the first time in the Sandown race, an indication that they have not lived up to early promise. By Command has been dropped 5 lbs in the ratings while Navajo Joe has come down a pound. That apart there is no particularl reason to support them tomorrow. The blinkers have been left off Navajo Joe who has tended to race far too keenly. Frankie Dettori rides him tomorrow and will need to get him to settle better. The Italian rode him once last season when he finished 2nd at Haydock
By contrast to the pair in the 3.10, Tarkheena Prince, who runs in the 3.40 has been one of the successes from my list. He has won 3 times showing a liking for soft ground. He is stepped up in trip markedly tomorrow which is not an unusual ploy with his trainer. Jamie Spencer has been booked to ride and is likely to play a waiting game. The horse has gone up 9 lbs since the beginning of the season. The one that I would regard as a big threat is the useful hurdler from Keith Reveley’s yard, Tazbar.
Like Tarkheena Prince, Louis Seffens is trained by Alan Swinbank. This 3 year old only raced once in 2007 and shaped really well finishing runner up in a back end Doncaster maiden. He was however last on both his starts this season but has not run since May 10 so it is possible that he has had a problem. He runs in the claimer at 4.10 tomorrow where he would have a chance based on the promise shown last season.
Hawk Mountain (Pontefract 4.40) won in impressive style at Nottingham in August and was then 2nd at Redcar. He has gone up steeply in the weights but I would still be hopeful of another decent effort. It is possible that he wouldn’t want the ground to be too soft.
William Haggas has been firing in the winners of late and I would expect his 2 year old Baron Otto to run well in the 3.50 at Warwick. Baron Otto caught my eye before he had even run as his dam is a half sister to the 2,000 Guineas winner Footstepsinthesand. He ran well enough in 5th on his debut at Newbury and should come on for that run.
First Avenue (Warwick 4.20) has been really frustrating to follow this season with form figures that read 33223. On 4 of those 5 occasions he was a beaten favourite and there must be a few questions marks about his attitude now. He is good enough to win this, as demonstrated by his 3rd to subsequent St Leger winner Conduit earlier in the season. He is back at 10 furlongs tomorrow having been racing over 12 and I am going to give him one more chance.
Albarouche has been running pretty consistently and with trainer Michael Jarvis in good form should go well in the 4.00 at Windsor. The other runner in this race from my list to follow is French Riviera. Baby Rock bounced back to form last month when 2nd at Yarmouth and is my selection for the 4.30.
There are a couple of runners from my list in action on Tuesday, both at Leiceater. General Tufto runs in the 3.40 and Electrolyser in the 4.10. The latter looks to have a good chance based on his recent 2nd at Newmarket when he was returning from a long absence. He is lightly raced and should have scope for further improvement.
Finally, I am a bit interested in Miss Eze in the 3.50 at Folkestone. She is named after a village near the French Riviera and comes from a family mostly named after places connected to that area of France. Her dam, Miss Corniche was a horse I used to follow and I hope that Miss Eze runs well for her trainer Geoff Wragg, who is retiring at the end of the season.
Both pictures are by courtesy of the artist Katy Sodeau. See links for more details of her work.
My next update will be on Tuesday.
ahorse 