Downside of Brancepethfan....
...is the catching up to do if I've been nowhere near a PC for a week! Here goes...
SOUTHWELL, HAMILTON & PONTEFRACT 15/7/05
=======================================
The grand old boy NOSAM only managed sixth place in his Handicap Chase, beaten 15l by a horse rated 2lb his inferior. The sluggish pace wouldn't have helped his cause. COLLEGE CITY, however, had enough of a decent pace off which to come, and, having made good headway turning for home, ghosted into the lead two from home and registered a 1.5l victory under Larry McGrath. A most pleasing aspect of the race was that he was evidently able to handle good, good to firm here, having prevously struggled to do so, but Richard Guest still thinks him a happier horse in mud. Whichever, having gone three seasons to register his second victory for the trainer he is now two from two, and might just be getting the hang of this game at six.
LES ARCS' race in the Scottish Stewards Cup at Hamilton was over almost as soon as it began, him having fallen out of the stalls under Tony Culhane and leaving himself too much to do over a trip already short of his best. He was staying on best of anything at the end and nabbed fifth, but was never in any danger of winning. At least he picked up a few hundred quid for his endeavours - ROAN RAIDER's first run for Guest in a handicap at Pontefract resulted in a listless 13th place of 14 runners.
MARKET RASEN, RIPON 16/7/05
=========================
The Richard Guest team was out in force at Rasen, as one might expect for the Summer Plate meeting, but with the feature race iteself now a 0-150 Class A handicap, he wasn't going to be able to smuggle a couple of just-into-the-110s-rated animals into the race. As it was, PEQUENITA, with her 120 rating, missed the cut by a couple.
The only chance of scooping one of the two big prizes therefore lay with DONOVAN, who missed his chasing engagement at Worcester on Wednesday on account of the firm going but squeaked into the Summer Hurdle with bottom weight. And a fine race he ran too at 40/1, finishing only 8.5l adrift in sixth place of a winner rathed 20lb his superior. A first-time visor certainly helped, and had he not demolished the second-last flight when making his charge through the pack he might have made the frame. He is unquestionably in good heart right now and demands a look whether he is turned out over hurdles or fences next time.
BILL'S ECHO looked the likeliest of Guest's sextet to score a victory today, but came off worst in a three-way tussle for victory in the 17.5f Handicap Chase. It was a good performance, just missing out to a race-fit Pipe 5yo who was winning her third chase since March, and an Irish import lit up by his move to Malcolm Jefferson, so compensation should not be too long in coming.
Three Guest animals lined up in the Novices' Hurdle Series Qualifier; none of them impressed especially, although in fairness they had had one run over hurdles between them prior to the contest. DRUMOSSIE, who only beat one home at Perth on debut, earned Concertina Racing a few hundred pounds with his remote fourth, 25l clear of REPENT AT LEISURE in fifth who in turn had fellow debutant DURBA a further 56l behind him. Guest must think plenty of the last-named to have dared to put a £50,000 asking price on the horse, but this run did not give much encouragement that new owner Billy Maguire will be winning any of that back on the course any time soon.
There was one victory to report for the Guest operation, BEAUGENCY finally putting in a good, clear round over fences to give the trainer his third winner in as many days and the horse his first win over jumps in 12 tries over here. Paul O'Neill got after Beaugency on the turn for home and got a good tune out of him up the straight. His recent non-completions make him a less than convincing tool to follow up, but here at least was a bit of a reward for the perseverence of both Guest and owners Gryffindor with him.
Over at Ripon, the latest ex-Vicky Haigh animal to reappear, GENOA STAR, put in a career-best performance to date in the selling stakes, beaten the curious distance of a length and four necks back in sixth. She was done for pace a couple of furlongs out but ran on again, suggesting a slight step up on today's 6f trip might not go amiss.
CATTERICK, 20/7/05
================
With all these Flat horses suddenly at his disposal, Richard Guest made two sorties to Flat meets during wb 18/7 with an actual proper team of animals rather than just the one. Not that GENOA STAR, FIENNES or GLENVIEWS SURLAMI made the effort particularly worthwhile, all finishing out of the money. Genoa Star, quickly turned out again four days after her good Ripon run, was only about 1.5l adrift of the third placed horse here in a blanket finish for the minor honours. Her struggling to overhaul these rivals at the death probably had more to do with Fran Norton making too much use of her early on rather than a failure to see out the extra furlong her Ripon run suggested she'd appreciate.
His lowly rating precluding him from most handicap opportunities, Fiennes managed to get a run in the claiming stakes instead, and duly got walloped in ninth place by horses rated - in several cases - over three stone superior to him. Banded racing has to rank as a more credible option for him until he can get his rating up; as a point of fact he was due to go down another 3lb on Saturday 23rd, exactly the opposite of what connections wanted.
Incredibly, Glenviews Surlami had already had three trainers in her five races prior to this first appearance for Richard Guest - Miss I T Oakes in Ireland, Alan Berry and Vicky Haigh. Off a mouldy rating of 30, she is going to prove every bit as hard to win with outside of Banded company as Fiennes, although as a 4yo already campaigned at up to 1m 4f, maybe Guest is keeping her ticking over prior to a try-out over hurdles. She finished fifth of seven here, beaten barely five lengths and still on the premises until 1f out, but the form in this very poor Apprentice Handicap is proabably ultiamtely of very little value.
UTTOXETER, 21/7/05
=================
Richard Guest's one and only jumps raid of the week - can someone explain to me why we had seven jumps cards in five days last wek, and only two in total this, incidentally? - yielded a second, two fifths and two eighths from five runners. BILL'S ECHO acquitted himself best of all in the conclusing 2m Handicap Chase, outbattled over the last two fences to miss out marginally to Tonic du Charmil, a hitherto accident-prone Martin Pipe 5yo which has suddenly remembered how to jump. Your favourite and mine, XAIPETE, was weighted to get a bit closer to the winner than he ultimately did (18l behind in fifth place), and, having dropped to a double-figure rating for the first time in aeons only recently, may still need to be helped a couple more if that elusive eighteenth career victory (and seventeenth for Mason / Guest) is to be realised.
Earlier in the day, YORK RITE was left with too much to do from early on for the second race running, although in this instance it was his own mistake at the fifth fence rather than a slippery bend which undermimed his chance. PEQUENITA led until two out in the 22.5f Handicap Hurdle but was then simply picked off by rivals with more left in the tank. Her hurdles rating is now in the region of 20lb below her burgeoning chasing one, but I maintain she still needs to be campaigned on ground easier than today's good to fim to exploit this.
Finally, BALLYBOE BOY failed to build on his Cartmel victory of a week earlier when well held in eighth in the 2m Handicap Hurdle. Having to cut out the pace, the effects of last week's run, his 7lb penalty and a bad blunder halfway round all conspired to defeat him this time.
NEWCASTLE 23/7/05
================
For the second race running LES ARCS has misfortune at the starting stalls. At least at Hamilton he got a run, though. Today, in an £11,000+ first-prixe contest being shown live on Channel 4, he reared in the stalls, getting himself upset (was the first-time visor not helping, perhaps?) and William Cahill's feet momentarily pinned to the walls of the stalls. A withdrawal without coming under orders ensued.
Prior to this mishap, EUROPEAN DREAM and JORDAN'S LIGHT had offered little sign of promise in finishing eighth and eleventh in a 15-runner 7f Maiden Auction Stakes. Two of the Racing Club horses, FIENNES and REEDSMAN, contested the 7f Apprentice Claiming Stakes. FIENNES actually led until 3f out; were this a ploy to set up the race for his stablemate, it worked until 2f out, for having chased the leaders handily enough Reedsman could only find the one pace from thereon. He still managed a sixth place, though, his second-best ever finish in a Flat race in what ws his first run back over the level for just over a year.
SOUTHWELL, HAMILTON & PONTEFRACT 15/7/05
=======================================
The grand old boy NOSAM only managed sixth place in his Handicap Chase, beaten 15l by a horse rated 2lb his inferior. The sluggish pace wouldn't have helped his cause. COLLEGE CITY, however, had enough of a decent pace off which to come, and, having made good headway turning for home, ghosted into the lead two from home and registered a 1.5l victory under Larry McGrath. A most pleasing aspect of the race was that he was evidently able to handle good, good to firm here, having prevously struggled to do so, but Richard Guest still thinks him a happier horse in mud. Whichever, having gone three seasons to register his second victory for the trainer he is now two from two, and might just be getting the hang of this game at six.
LES ARCS' race in the Scottish Stewards Cup at Hamilton was over almost as soon as it began, him having fallen out of the stalls under Tony Culhane and leaving himself too much to do over a trip already short of his best. He was staying on best of anything at the end and nabbed fifth, but was never in any danger of winning. At least he picked up a few hundred quid for his endeavours - ROAN RAIDER's first run for Guest in a handicap at Pontefract resulted in a listless 13th place of 14 runners.
MARKET RASEN, RIPON 16/7/05
=========================
The Richard Guest team was out in force at Rasen, as one might expect for the Summer Plate meeting, but with the feature race iteself now a 0-150 Class A handicap, he wasn't going to be able to smuggle a couple of just-into-the-110s-rated animals into the race. As it was, PEQUENITA, with her 120 rating, missed the cut by a couple.
The only chance of scooping one of the two big prizes therefore lay with DONOVAN, who missed his chasing engagement at Worcester on Wednesday on account of the firm going but squeaked into the Summer Hurdle with bottom weight. And a fine race he ran too at 40/1, finishing only 8.5l adrift in sixth place of a winner rathed 20lb his superior. A first-time visor certainly helped, and had he not demolished the second-last flight when making his charge through the pack he might have made the frame. He is unquestionably in good heart right now and demands a look whether he is turned out over hurdles or fences next time.
BILL'S ECHO looked the likeliest of Guest's sextet to score a victory today, but came off worst in a three-way tussle for victory in the 17.5f Handicap Chase. It was a good performance, just missing out to a race-fit Pipe 5yo who was winning her third chase since March, and an Irish import lit up by his move to Malcolm Jefferson, so compensation should not be too long in coming.
Three Guest animals lined up in the Novices' Hurdle Series Qualifier; none of them impressed especially, although in fairness they had had one run over hurdles between them prior to the contest. DRUMOSSIE, who only beat one home at Perth on debut, earned Concertina Racing a few hundred pounds with his remote fourth, 25l clear of REPENT AT LEISURE in fifth who in turn had fellow debutant DURBA a further 56l behind him. Guest must think plenty of the last-named to have dared to put a £50,000 asking price on the horse, but this run did not give much encouragement that new owner Billy Maguire will be winning any of that back on the course any time soon.
There was one victory to report for the Guest operation, BEAUGENCY finally putting in a good, clear round over fences to give the trainer his third winner in as many days and the horse his first win over jumps in 12 tries over here. Paul O'Neill got after Beaugency on the turn for home and got a good tune out of him up the straight. His recent non-completions make him a less than convincing tool to follow up, but here at least was a bit of a reward for the perseverence of both Guest and owners Gryffindor with him.
Over at Ripon, the latest ex-Vicky Haigh animal to reappear, GENOA STAR, put in a career-best performance to date in the selling stakes, beaten the curious distance of a length and four necks back in sixth. She was done for pace a couple of furlongs out but ran on again, suggesting a slight step up on today's 6f trip might not go amiss.
CATTERICK, 20/7/05
================
With all these Flat horses suddenly at his disposal, Richard Guest made two sorties to Flat meets during wb 18/7 with an actual proper team of animals rather than just the one. Not that GENOA STAR, FIENNES or GLENVIEWS SURLAMI made the effort particularly worthwhile, all finishing out of the money. Genoa Star, quickly turned out again four days after her good Ripon run, was only about 1.5l adrift of the third placed horse here in a blanket finish for the minor honours. Her struggling to overhaul these rivals at the death probably had more to do with Fran Norton making too much use of her early on rather than a failure to see out the extra furlong her Ripon run suggested she'd appreciate.
His lowly rating precluding him from most handicap opportunities, Fiennes managed to get a run in the claiming stakes instead, and duly got walloped in ninth place by horses rated - in several cases - over three stone superior to him. Banded racing has to rank as a more credible option for him until he can get his rating up; as a point of fact he was due to go down another 3lb on Saturday 23rd, exactly the opposite of what connections wanted.
Incredibly, Glenviews Surlami had already had three trainers in her five races prior to this first appearance for Richard Guest - Miss I T Oakes in Ireland, Alan Berry and Vicky Haigh. Off a mouldy rating of 30, she is going to prove every bit as hard to win with outside of Banded company as Fiennes, although as a 4yo already campaigned at up to 1m 4f, maybe Guest is keeping her ticking over prior to a try-out over hurdles. She finished fifth of seven here, beaten barely five lengths and still on the premises until 1f out, but the form in this very poor Apprentice Handicap is proabably ultiamtely of very little value.
UTTOXETER, 21/7/05
=================
Richard Guest's one and only jumps raid of the week - can someone explain to me why we had seven jumps cards in five days last wek, and only two in total this, incidentally? - yielded a second, two fifths and two eighths from five runners. BILL'S ECHO acquitted himself best of all in the conclusing 2m Handicap Chase, outbattled over the last two fences to miss out marginally to Tonic du Charmil, a hitherto accident-prone Martin Pipe 5yo which has suddenly remembered how to jump. Your favourite and mine, XAIPETE, was weighted to get a bit closer to the winner than he ultimately did (18l behind in fifth place), and, having dropped to a double-figure rating for the first time in aeons only recently, may still need to be helped a couple more if that elusive eighteenth career victory (and seventeenth for Mason / Guest) is to be realised.
Earlier in the day, YORK RITE was left with too much to do from early on for the second race running, although in this instance it was his own mistake at the fifth fence rather than a slippery bend which undermimed his chance. PEQUENITA led until two out in the 22.5f Handicap Hurdle but was then simply picked off by rivals with more left in the tank. Her hurdles rating is now in the region of 20lb below her burgeoning chasing one, but I maintain she still needs to be campaigned on ground easier than today's good to fim to exploit this.
Finally, BALLYBOE BOY failed to build on his Cartmel victory of a week earlier when well held in eighth in the 2m Handicap Hurdle. Having to cut out the pace, the effects of last week's run, his 7lb penalty and a bad blunder halfway round all conspired to defeat him this time.
NEWCASTLE 23/7/05
================
For the second race running LES ARCS has misfortune at the starting stalls. At least at Hamilton he got a run, though. Today, in an £11,000+ first-prixe contest being shown live on Channel 4, he reared in the stalls, getting himself upset (was the first-time visor not helping, perhaps?) and William Cahill's feet momentarily pinned to the walls of the stalls. A withdrawal without coming under orders ensued.
Prior to this mishap, EUROPEAN DREAM and JORDAN'S LIGHT had offered little sign of promise in finishing eighth and eleventh in a 15-runner 7f Maiden Auction Stakes. Two of the Racing Club horses, FIENNES and REEDSMAN, contested the 7f Apprentice Claiming Stakes. FIENNES actually led until 3f out; were this a ploy to set up the race for his stablemate, it worked until 2f out, for having chased the leaders handily enough Reedsman could only find the one pace from thereon. He still managed a sixth place, though, his second-best ever finish in a Flat race in what ws his first run back over the level for just over a year.
posted by Jeremy Grayson @ 1:23 AM
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