Nada

One fourth (in a race with prizemoney for only the first three home), one seventh, one ninth, two tenths, an eleventh, a thirteenth and a fifteenth was the sum total of the Guest yard's endeavours last Saturday. WET LIPS and DONOVAN were burned off when the pace was cranked up at halfway in the Class B Handicap Hurdle at Rasen, with the going (just a little slow) and class (wrong at weights) ultimately proving the respective undoing of each. The attentions for the latter will probably now turn back to chasing, judging by his engagements this week, and he might be seen back at Rasen in a 17.5f Handicap Chase on Sunday. Wet Lips could carry joint top-weight in a Class D Handicap Hurdle at Kelso on the same day. In both instances, these represent much more realisitic targets.

LES ARCS, turned out again quickly after his good reappearance at Ayr seven days earlier, found the company in his Class 2 7f Newmarket Handicap a bit too hot, and he was left for dead with two furlongs to go under French pilot C-P Lemaire. The 4lb rise for the Ayr run won't have helped, and he's now 10lb in total higher than when last winning.

So those were the good horses in good races. Disappointingly, it was the ordinarty horses in bad races who weren't able at least to put some prizemoney on the board, all bar JIMMY BYRNE falling way short of the target. He came fourth in the modest Novices' Handicap Hurdle at Rasen, beaten only 2l and a short head on ground which had come better for him, if still not totally ideal. PRIVATE JESSICA was last of nine finishers and seems to have gone backwards again since her third in the mud there last month. The good-yet-slow ground was still too soft for BEAUGENCY to take his chance, so PEQUENITA alone ran in the 2m 6f Handicap Hurdle. As has often been the norm, she cut out the early pace, but actually folded tamely herself fully four flights form home this time rather than have the chasing pack leap on her in the final straight. She ran, frankly, like an exhausted horse, and a break following this busy summer mustn't be too long in coming, surely.

In commenting on their defection from Haydock on Friday, I had overlooked the fact that both Tidal Jets horses, BELLA FIORELLA and YASSOOMA, were still engaged at Ripon on the Saturday after all. Not that they made it worth anyone's while, finishing last of 15 and 10th of 12 in their respective 2yo heats. They are two of 54 horses still in the Redcar 2yo Trophy this coming Saturday, and even if they get a run, I cannot picture them a) starting at anything other than huge odds, b) not getting walloped.

GABLA is the only Guest horse to have run since the weekend, although again with hugely unimpressive results. Trying 2m 5.5f for the first time, he was rushed up the field with four hurdles left to jump, but once more proved himself to be a complete softie by weakening into an eventual last of 10 runners two obstacles later. It is no secret how much this horse, an 11-time Flat winner in Australia, let us not forget, has disappointed Guest since his early promise in Novices' Hurdles around two years ago, and a return of two wins from 26 UK starts is clearly not what he had hoped for.

The next few days could prove to be very busy for Richard Guest's yard, with many horses pencilled in for their first runs of the autumn, or their first ever for Guest, and no fewer than three jumps courses all within the usual Guest operating compass (Rasen, Kelso, Uttoxeter) peppered with engagements this Sunday. Before that, however, five horses line up at Hexham tomorrow; FREE WILL in the 4-7yo Non-Handicap Selling Hurdle, ASTON - possibly the liveliest chance of a winner of all the runners - switched to fences as widely anticipated and pitched into a poor Class F 3m 1f Handicap Chase; the hitherto disappointing - and breathing-impaired - BEAVER in the 2m Novices' Hurdle; HE'S HOT RIGHT NOW back over fences in the Class F Handicap Chase over an extended two miles; and newcomer TOPWELL - bought twice by Guest in recent months after original recipient Peter Girvon put him up for sale shortly after initial acquisition - in the Intermediate Bumper. The last-named starts his racing life as a Richard Guest Racing Club horse; two others bearing that banner, VALERUN and WHY THE LONG FACE, are among scores of entries for the weekend;

SOUTHWELL, 1/10/05 (FLAT);
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Fit to Fly, Roan Raider

REDCAR, 1/10/05 (FLAT);
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Bella Fiorella, Yassooma

KELSO, 2/10/05 (JUMPS);
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Apadi, Aston, Beaugency, Magico, Shannon's Pride, Stan, Upswing, Valerun, Wet Lips, Why the Long Face, York Rite

MARKET RASEN, 2/10/05 (JUMPS);
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Apadi, Beaugency, Beaver, College City, Donovan, Free Will, Gabla, He's Hot Right Now, Magico, Prince Adjal, Why the Long Face

UTTOXETER, 2/10/05 (JUMPS);
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Aston, Beaugency, Magico, Stan, Wet Lips, Why the Long Face, York Rite