Hurdles win for Red Perk

Probably more through accident than design, RED PERK is one of the very longest serving animals left at Brancepeth, having made his racecourse debut back in April 2002. With the departure of TYNEANDTHYNEAGAIN and sad demise of XAIPETE, only RED STRIKER and of course NOSAM have been running for the Mason / Guest franchise for longer now (and I can only think of OUR ARMAGEDDON, CERESFIELD and COLLEGE CITY as other remaining animals to have run when Norman Mason held the permit, although some clever bugger out there may be able to remind me otherwise).

I digress. Red Perk is now into his fifth season at Brancepeth (2001-2 onwards), yet a lot of viewers of this blog will probably not be that familiar with him, as he's only raced 20 times to date and mostly at a very low level and without great distinction, so herewith some details of his career to date;

- he was one of the horses involved in that notrious novices' hurdle at Wetherby two years ago, where Meggie's Gamble slipped the field at the start, raced into a distance lead, and was left to stay there until the end, unchallenged,

- he broke Kenny Johnson's ribs, lungs, collarbone, and lord knows what else in a horror fall at Uttoxeter in June 2004, yet - barring appearances in conditionals and amateurs' races - remains one of Kenny's guaranteed rides at Brancepeth,

- he was reacquired by Guest at the Doncaster sales a couple of weeks ago, previous owner Dennis Tate - formerly owner of noted 90s marathon chase plodder Majic Rain - having decided to let him go,

- he has run in the last two renewals of the four-mile chase at Hexham in March, finishing second and third in each,

- his one career victory prior to today was in a Kelso handicap chase over 3m 1f last winter, where he got what looked a slightly fortuitous verdict in a desperately close finish.

He has usually required a run or two to get him straight of a season, so I was not overly optimistic of his chances in the conditional jockeys' novices' handicap hurdle he ran in at Wetherby today, his first show since Cartmel in May, and I would not have taken the 4/1JF about him. However, he turned out to be bang on for this reappearance, responding to the urgings of Robert Stephens - picking up a useful spare as Paul O'Neill appeared not to be at the track in time - and his cheekpieces to grind down the other joint jolly Potts of Magic in a protracted battle down the home straight. The winning verdict was a short head.

Stephens hadn't ridden for Guest since partnering ISELLIDO in the Mares Final at Newbury in April, more through other commitments and geographical location than anything more sinister. He has, of course, scored one victory for Guest before, getting NORTH LANDING home in a Bangor handicap hurdle last August whilst still an amateur. Red Perk, meanwhile, is currently on the same mark over both hurdles and fences (88) and really ought not get walloped for such a slim victory over a rival also rated 88 over timber. Whether he is punished too much or not, I suspect he'll be sent back chasing before too long. His new owners, incidentally, are messrs Chorzelewski, Davies and Hodgkinson, for whom, as far as I can, Red Perk is a first venture into ownership. Easy money, this racing lark.

O'Neill did manage to get to the track in time to honour his ride on JERICHO III, a horse on whom he managed to run up a hat-trick inside 15 days last January. Things are bound to be tougher for Jericho this season, starting it as he does fully 12lb above his last winning mark. He could have done without a start as inasupicious as the one he had in Wetherby's two mile handicap chase today, though. Pulling fearsomely, as he has been known to do in the past, of course, Jericho belted the first fence and the saddle slipped after the second, leaving O'Neill no option but to pull up. Basically the same thing happened early on in a Hexham handicap in winter 2004, on one of his very first runs for the yard. I am putting this down to over-exuberance on the horse's part, rather than the first signs of any reappearance of his lunatic behaviour from a year ago and beyond, but he'll still probably need his next run after this now.