Shock horror - no Cartmel winner
The Richard Guest operation had been in imperious form at Cartmel so far this season, with six winners at the four days' racing there before today - that basically equated to one in every four races being landed by the Brancepeth operation. The luck ran out today, however, as BALLYBOE BOY's third place was the best Guest's charges could muster in what's generally been a week of rather mixed results.
As previously, DIKTATIT pulled like stink in the first division of the Juvenile Hurdle, such that, having moved confidently into third place approaching two out, he had little to offer when the pace of the race was cranked up a gear at the final flight, where he took a fall. As far as I am aware he is alright, although Larry McGrath had to step down from his intended ride for Sue Smith in the Beginners' Chase. In that race, PAGE POINT, who had had the summer off after his first two attempts over fences had yielded place finishes, was much too keen and like Diktatit used up all his energy too soon. He was beaten 21.5l in sixth.
HE'S HOT RIGHT NOW continues to disappoint majorly over fences. Following a sixth, seventh and eighth in three previous attempts over the larger obstacles, he jumped stickily again here and trailed in a well-beaten last of ten finishers in the Novices' Handicap Chase. A return to hurdling may suit the horse better, but he is higher in the weights for that discipline and is looking for all the world a difficult horse to place right now. As mentioned above, Ballyboe Boy was the most successful animal on the day, bringing home £ 642.00 for the Fly By Night Syndicate with a 2.25l third in the Novices' Handicap Hurdle. He was closest at the end, having been hard ridden for most of the race, and the combination of slightly slower ground and a 7lb hike in the weights ensured he never looked entirely likely to repeat his success in an identical race to this at the July meeting. Finally for Cartmel, GOLDEN FEATHER faded badly after halfway in the other Juvenile Hurdle after - guess what - pulling hard early on, and only had one behind him in finishing nearly 50l adrift in eighth. Not the most distinguished day at the South Lakeland track for Guest, then, but there'll certainly be other opportunities to put that right back there on Monday, with eleven different horses (of whom none ran today) entered at the five-day stage for the six races on that card.
As I mentioned at the start of this entry, some runner have come closer to hitting the target than others in the last three of four days, with a spirited run by BILL'S ECHO at Perth on Wednesday ranking as the best effort of anything. I called the race as being a matter of whom could get second from Rajam last time and was proved right, although I hadn't expected Bill's Echo or anything else for that matter to get to within 1.5l of that one, so well done to him. Of the other Perth runners, ASTRONAUT offered plenty of encouragement when a decent third in the Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle (under Ciaran Eddery) over an extended 3 miles, and if he can be found genuine good ground with no jar in it throughout the autumn, he ought to land one of these. GABLA once again put in a soft effort when sixth in the Handicap Chase, jacking it in rather after hitting four out when prominent (but still winning £ 139.80 of prizemoney, owing to Perth's generous policy of awarding money down to sixth for many of its handicaps, even Class Fs like this one) , and PRIVATE JESSICA didn't seem to see out 2m 4.5f in the Seller, fading into eighth.
Thursday saw four Richard Guest runners try their luck at Bangor, and it gives me no small amount of pleasure to report that NOSAM, 15 years young, managed to run into second place in the 3 mile Handicap Chase under Larry. No-one should be kidded into thinking he ever looked like winning, and there were 18l separating him and Heather Dalton's Fearless Mel at the end (a rival rated only 5lb better), but this still represented an enthusiastic and successful run from this grand old pro - scoring his first second place since October 2003 - which netted Norman Mason £ 1248.00 in the process. More importantly, of course, was that he came back sound, and after losing his other faithful old warrior XAIPETE a few weeks ago, this was always going to be the most important thing.
NOSAM aside, JIMMY BYRNE flopped in ground which might have gone a bit tacky for him, and he was last of seven in the CJ Novices' Handicap Hurdle which DONOVAN had won for the yard last year. COLLEGE CITY, now a stone higher than when recording the first of his two chase victories in July, predictably found the company in the 0-125 Handicap Chase far to hot, and trailed in seventh. As per at Uttoxeter a couple of runs ago, PEQUENITA had to cut out all the donkey work from the front in the 2m 4f Handicap Hurdle, and had nothing left to offer when headed after three out. She boxed on for fourth place prizemoney, but could probably use mud and a return to fences to regain the winning thread.
There were three Flat runners spread over Thursday and Friday. Having looked promising when running on in a 6f event at Hamilton on Monday, ROYAL PARDON was again produced late by Billy Cahill in a 7f Handicap at Musselburgh, and once again found the line coming a bit too soon. She was only done by a half length and a head in third, and confirmed the promise of that first run for Richard Guest of the other day. FIT TO FLY, latterly tried over distances of between 8f and 14f by Jennie Candlish but with winning form over 6f, was returned to that distance by Guest on his first run for him, and got to within about three lengths of the winner in finishing seventh in first-rime blinkers in the Apprentice Handicap at Newcastle. Again, there should be a win in him on that evidence. No such obvious promise from ROAN RADIER, however, who faded from halfway in the 5f dash on the same card at Gosforth Park, and Ambrose Reilly could only bring him in 14th of the 19 runners. He's shown nothing in three runs for Guest to date, is yet to score after 32 career starts, and looks like he is going to continue to prove hard to have any success with.
As previously, DIKTATIT pulled like stink in the first division of the Juvenile Hurdle, such that, having moved confidently into third place approaching two out, he had little to offer when the pace of the race was cranked up a gear at the final flight, where he took a fall. As far as I am aware he is alright, although Larry McGrath had to step down from his intended ride for Sue Smith in the Beginners' Chase. In that race, PAGE POINT, who had had the summer off after his first two attempts over fences had yielded place finishes, was much too keen and like Diktatit used up all his energy too soon. He was beaten 21.5l in sixth.
HE'S HOT RIGHT NOW continues to disappoint majorly over fences. Following a sixth, seventh and eighth in three previous attempts over the larger obstacles, he jumped stickily again here and trailed in a well-beaten last of ten finishers in the Novices' Handicap Chase. A return to hurdling may suit the horse better, but he is higher in the weights for that discipline and is looking for all the world a difficult horse to place right now. As mentioned above, Ballyboe Boy was the most successful animal on the day, bringing home £ 642.00 for the Fly By Night Syndicate with a 2.25l third in the Novices' Handicap Hurdle. He was closest at the end, having been hard ridden for most of the race, and the combination of slightly slower ground and a 7lb hike in the weights ensured he never looked entirely likely to repeat his success in an identical race to this at the July meeting. Finally for Cartmel, GOLDEN FEATHER faded badly after halfway in the other Juvenile Hurdle after - guess what - pulling hard early on, and only had one behind him in finishing nearly 50l adrift in eighth. Not the most distinguished day at the South Lakeland track for Guest, then, but there'll certainly be other opportunities to put that right back there on Monday, with eleven different horses (of whom none ran today) entered at the five-day stage for the six races on that card.
As I mentioned at the start of this entry, some runner have come closer to hitting the target than others in the last three of four days, with a spirited run by BILL'S ECHO at Perth on Wednesday ranking as the best effort of anything. I called the race as being a matter of whom could get second from Rajam last time and was proved right, although I hadn't expected Bill's Echo or anything else for that matter to get to within 1.5l of that one, so well done to him. Of the other Perth runners, ASTRONAUT offered plenty of encouragement when a decent third in the Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle (under Ciaran Eddery) over an extended 3 miles, and if he can be found genuine good ground with no jar in it throughout the autumn, he ought to land one of these. GABLA once again put in a soft effort when sixth in the Handicap Chase, jacking it in rather after hitting four out when prominent (but still winning £ 139.80 of prizemoney, owing to Perth's generous policy of awarding money down to sixth for many of its handicaps, even Class Fs like this one) , and PRIVATE JESSICA didn't seem to see out 2m 4.5f in the Seller, fading into eighth.
Thursday saw four Richard Guest runners try their luck at Bangor, and it gives me no small amount of pleasure to report that NOSAM, 15 years young, managed to run into second place in the 3 mile Handicap Chase under Larry. No-one should be kidded into thinking he ever looked like winning, and there were 18l separating him and Heather Dalton's Fearless Mel at the end (a rival rated only 5lb better), but this still represented an enthusiastic and successful run from this grand old pro - scoring his first second place since October 2003 - which netted Norman Mason £ 1248.00 in the process. More importantly, of course, was that he came back sound, and after losing his other faithful old warrior XAIPETE a few weeks ago, this was always going to be the most important thing.
NOSAM aside, JIMMY BYRNE flopped in ground which might have gone a bit tacky for him, and he was last of seven in the CJ Novices' Handicap Hurdle which DONOVAN had won for the yard last year. COLLEGE CITY, now a stone higher than when recording the first of his two chase victories in July, predictably found the company in the 0-125 Handicap Chase far to hot, and trailed in seventh. As per at Uttoxeter a couple of runs ago, PEQUENITA had to cut out all the donkey work from the front in the 2m 4f Handicap Hurdle, and had nothing left to offer when headed after three out. She boxed on for fourth place prizemoney, but could probably use mud and a return to fences to regain the winning thread.
There were three Flat runners spread over Thursday and Friday. Having looked promising when running on in a 6f event at Hamilton on Monday, ROYAL PARDON was again produced late by Billy Cahill in a 7f Handicap at Musselburgh, and once again found the line coming a bit too soon. She was only done by a half length and a head in third, and confirmed the promise of that first run for Richard Guest of the other day. FIT TO FLY, latterly tried over distances of between 8f and 14f by Jennie Candlish but with winning form over 6f, was returned to that distance by Guest on his first run for him, and got to within about three lengths of the winner in finishing seventh in first-rime blinkers in the Apprentice Handicap at Newcastle. Again, there should be a win in him on that evidence. No such obvious promise from ROAN RADIER, however, who faded from halfway in the 5f dash on the same card at Gosforth Park, and Ambrose Reilly could only bring him in 14th of the 19 runners. He's shown nothing in three runs for Guest to date, is yet to score after 32 career starts, and looks like he is going to continue to prove hard to have any success with.
posted by Jeremy Grayson @ 9:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home