Re-run of last year
For the second year running, a fairly successful October for Richard Guest has been followed by weeks without a win stretching well into November. Doubtlessly some of this will be attributable to a lot of the real "winter" horses coming back in for their first or second runs of the season, and still needing it; but just three second places from 32 runs in the last 12 days does indicate some animals are not running up to their best at present, and at a time where some of those stables below Guest in the trainer's table are starting to take great lumps out of the deficit, this is not helpful.
Also of interest is that Henry Oliver has not ridden for Guest since falling off TIPSY MOUSE at Kelso a week last Saturday. I am not aware of him being injured of late, and whilst he did pick up a whip ban recently, that was just for one day (11/11). Ian Williams and Tracey Barfoot-Saunt both gave him rides last weekend, so I wonder if something has happened that hasn't been made public as yet. If this is the case, once again, this is not going to aid the yard's cause as the season cranks up another few notches.
SEDGEFIELD, Tuesday 8/11/05
========================
Three of the four runners sent out here offered at least some promise. TANMEYA consented to settle much better than on her debut at Towcester and was actually on the tails of the leaders approaching two out in the novices' hurdle before tiredness crept in. Her eventual fifth place offers enough encouragement that a small handicap could be within her compass.
NORTH LANDING was having his first run since winning at Bangor last August in the 2m 5.5f non-handicap selling hurdle. His hurdling technique was rather tardy early on, but he stayed on better over this new trip and softer than ideal trip than may have been expected (albeit at the one pace), and he should be spot on for his next assignment after this. There is no reason why he cannot continue to ply his trade at this sort of trip rather than 2m from hereon in.
TEME VALLEY was also experiencing a step up to 2m 5.5f in the Betfred Poker handicap hurdle series qualifier and was ridden to stay the trip. Paul O'Neill threw him into the race four out but the horse has to be hard ridden to keep up two flights later and simply plugged on at the one pace into a still respectable enough fourth place. Easier assignments await at this, his favourite track, in the near future.
TOPWELL was the one animal not to show much, his 55l seventh place of 11 in the closing bumper comfortably his worst performance to date. A switch to obstacles now would seem more prudent than hoping his fourth and final bumper run will reverse his fortunes.
LUDLOW, Thursday 10/11/05
======================
A disappointing non-runner here was DURBA, whose form in novices' / maiden hurdles in mid to late summer had been absolutely diabolical, but who had attracted a lot of paper support running off a commensurately meagre rating of 74 - and the application of lots of headgear - for his handicap debut.
READY TO RUMBLE and TIPSY MOUSE DID run, however, with Paul O'Neill in the plate for both. The former failed to respond to first-time blinkers and being kept in mid-division, and sulked into pulling up three out in the novices' handicap chase. Tipsy Mouse, yet again running over an inadequate trip on a shapr track (3 miles here), was predictably run out of things late on in finishing fourth in the handicap chase. Richard Guest said in the [i]Racing Post[/i] that morning that he had found the key to the horse now, but his hands were being forced by the absence of good ground on suitably testing tracks. There may be the usual poetic licence of a canny trainer in there somewhere, but given the deluges we've had in recent weeks - such that even Cheltenham is running soft, for heaven's sake - he's probably quite right. The removal of quick-draining Doncaster from the jumps calendar due to refurbishment has removed the most obvious likely source of fast winter ground for galloping types this winter, so he could be a bit hard to place if things stay soggy.
NEWCASTLE, Friday 11/11/05
=======================
Panto time came early here as APADI - having his first run for the Fly By Night Syndicate after Anne Kenny let him go - tried to refuse to race in the closing handicap chase, gifted his rivals 25l, showed no interest in the job once he did get going, and pulled up after just three obstacles.
It capped a day on which three out of four Richard Guest runners showed little or nothing. SHEM DYLAN was once again walloped in the 2m 4f novices' hurdle, J P Flavin's 10lb allowance - reducing the horse's burden to 10-1 - aiding the cause not one iota as he trailed in 112l last of 12 finishers. He'll get some patience from Guest and Paul Beck, being another New Zealand horse likely not to have acclimatised fully yet, but he is light years away from winning anything on all UK form to date.
TIGER TALK was stepped back up out of selling company in the 2m 4f handicap hurdle but failed to justify the move, beating home only one rival home in 15th position. He also proved unusually difficult for "Bruce" Moorman to settle on this occasion - had he and Apadi been on the Es and Whizz the night before, one wonders?
RED PERK was the highpoint of an unsatisfactory day, running a sound race under Kenny Johnson to finish 1.25l second to a Ferdy Murphy horse already due to go 10lb up the handicap the following day. He remains in good heart and ought to find another small event before too long, as long as the ground does not tend to extremes.
WETHERBY, Saturday 12/11/05
========================
Two horses possibly being turned out again a bit too soon posted below-par performances here. The maiden hurdle TANMEYA contested had no strength in depth about it, but she still went off at 66/1 and trailed in tenth, although in fairness she did bring herself almost to a stop when getting four out all wrong, scuppering her forward charge entirely. ASSUMETHEPOSITION only faced four rivals in the 2m 4.5f novices' handicap chase on what looked like perfect ground for him, but he emptied five out and only got fourth place prizemoney when one rival tipped up late on. He's yet to replicate his best hurdles form over fences.
UTTOXETER, Saturday 12/11/05
=========================
Two runners, two second places, and an autumn's best from JERICHO III, although he still gave the impression of being a few pounds too high judged on how easily Dangerousdanmagru - trained, ironically, by Norman Mason's ex-assistant (and therefore Guests's predecessor at Brancepeth) Alan Jones - picked him off in the home straight. Former Brancepeth favourite NEPHITE (seven times a winner for Mason / Guest and twice more for Venetia Williams in the summer) trailed in back in fourth.
SOBERS was one of only two fancied in the bumper, and he duly contested the finish with the other, a Richard Phillips mares' bumper winner. Paul O'Neill gave him first run on the leaders 3f out, but was unable to quicken when the mare came to challenge in the final furlong and was 1.5l adrift at the end. Having run here and at Aintree previously, a stiffer test may be necessary to pinch one of these.
LEICESTER, Monday 14/11/05
=======================
The first jumps meeting of the season at the East Midlands track produced the usual differences in going, with the hurdles course - also the Flat course - riding soft and the chase course good to firm. On that basis it was questionable why MAGICO was allowed to contest the handicap chase; the course will have been stiff enough, but he was outrun by horses much happier on the fast ground than him in finishing fifth.
More disappointing was GHADAMES in the handicap hurdle. Not far off two stone better off over hurdles than fences, and with a proven record of going fresh, he was entitled to do much better than a 21l sixth place on his first run for six months. Chances are his next run over hurdles will tell us more about whether he is, purely and simply, destined to remain a better chaser than hurdler. Easier to assess ni the immediate term is ROAN RAIDER, who remains in rotten form both on the Flat and over hurdles. His eighth place finish in the seller represented a closer finish than at Kelso last time, but he still looks impossible to win with.
FAKENHAM, Tuesday 15/11/05
========================
Granted her favourite good ground and a lightning fast 2 miles, CERESFIELD would have picked up and carried the opposition in the Class F handicap chase in her pomp, but she trailed in a sad last of nine finishers this time round. The first-time visor which replaced the cheekpieces did not suit, not did the hold-up tactics which connections have persisted with for some time now. Why is this? Why are they not content to let her try to win from the front, which worked so very well on numerous occasions in the past?
Still on the subject of inappropriate tasks, MOSCOW LEADER - back from over a year off and now representing Gryffindor (www.racingtours.co.uk) - has been pencilled in as an Eider horse this season given his apparent staying capabilities and love of soft ground. That being the case, being sent around 2m 5f of Fakenham on good ground could only have ever counted as a pipe-opener (or just daft), and he was never closer than his eventual sixth here. Conversely DARGAVILLE, another having his first run after a lay-off, would have appreciated things a bit better than the gluepot he encountered at Cartmel last time out, but he has not impressed with his consistency since joining Richard Guest and he petered out tamely into sixth here as well. Sharp tracks and fast ground have brought about his best performances (Musselburgh here we come, then), but he has also disappointed on them and he does not look one to trust fully.
HEXHAM, Wednesday 16/11/05
========================
This was a well above-average card for the track, with the centrepiece, the inaugural Northumberland National, given a Class C rating and a top prize of over £13k. Richard Guest sent the in-form PASS ME BY into battle in this four mile slog, and, having run close to the pace for the greater part, found himself in the lead from 3 out to the last. Here, however, his stamina gave out, and he was demoted to fifth on the run-in.
This was certainly a punt worth taking, with the horse having finished a staying on third over the even more severe Carlisle track in heavy going over 3m 2f last time out, and connections still got £500 for their pains, but on this evidence he needs just a shade shorter than this trip - some of the 3m 6f chases at Newcastle would probably suit.
This was not the only encouraging run of another blank day, as debutant MR IRONMAN showed up well for a long way on his racecourse debut in the concluding bumper before weakening into fourth in the last couple of furlongs. He looks nothing special on breeding, being out of a poor 2m 4f novices' hurdler, and I think that, like TOPWELL, he will struggle to feature in better bumpers away from Hexham, but connections will doubtless find him low-grae hurdles in the fullness of time.
One of last year's lesser lights, PAPAWALDO, made his seasonal bow in the National Hunt novices' hurdle and once again showed nothing, trailing in last of ten finishers. He has now registered four duck-eggs from the same number of races, beating only penny numbers of horses in so doing, and whilst he now qualifies for a handicap mark, the early signs are that this campaign is going to be as unfulfilling for connections as last.
ISELLIDO, another of the NH-bred contingent, is being kept over hurdles for the time being, it would appear, although another comprehensive defeat here suggests she is not able to defy a current mark 9lb above her last winning one. In fairness she did seem to respond to the first-time eyeshield here, and was still leading until 3 out, but the chasing pack were able to overwhelm her pretty easily. I presume she is going to be aimed at mares' novices' chase series qualifiers at some stage soon, if the ground remains swampy enough, but she wouldn't be taking on that assignment in the greatest of heart on this evidence.
MARKET RASEN, Thursday 17/11/05
============================
ASTRONAUT looks like a horse who will not stand much racing, so opportunities have to be grasped whenever he does step onto the racetrack. The 2m 6f selling handicap hurdle did not appear to be one such opportunity, as for all that the contest was not a great one, the ground was also much stickier than ideal. It became even less of an opportunity at the fifth flight, when the horse gave Paul O'Neill no chance of staying in the plate.
Better luck for O'Neill later in the afternoon, as he got a clear round in aboard BERGERAC in a fair return from nearly six months off in the 2m 4f handicap chase. It was basically a clear round and an altogether more convincing display than on his chasing debut in a beginners' race at Cartmel, but his hurdling mark of 107 was awarded primarily for winning a poor maiden race at the same track only five days earlier, and it looks a tad high for him to be running off over fences at present.
Claire Metcalfe has been in blinding form in the saddle aboard ex-Guest inmate LONGSTONE LASS, now happily ensconced at Tracey Waggott's yard with Metcalfe herself the owner. The lady riders' handicap hurdle had previously been run as an amateurs' novices' event, and Metcalfe had come second in it two years ago when giving a UK racecourse debut to some minor creature called OUR ARMAGEDDON. She occupied the same berth here in the race's new guise, giving UPSWING a nice waiting ride to propel the horse into second place two from home, only for him not to pick up as necessary from that point on. Mind, the 2.5l beating from a horse and rider combination - Parisienne Gale and Caroline Hurley - successful together several times over hurdles and in point-to-points represented a sound effort, and it is only to be hoped that the handicapper does not take the result too literally, as there was 11lb between them on the book before the tapes went up.
Also of interest is that Henry Oliver has not ridden for Guest since falling off TIPSY MOUSE at Kelso a week last Saturday. I am not aware of him being injured of late, and whilst he did pick up a whip ban recently, that was just for one day (11/11). Ian Williams and Tracey Barfoot-Saunt both gave him rides last weekend, so I wonder if something has happened that hasn't been made public as yet. If this is the case, once again, this is not going to aid the yard's cause as the season cranks up another few notches.
SEDGEFIELD, Tuesday 8/11/05
========================
Three of the four runners sent out here offered at least some promise. TANMEYA consented to settle much better than on her debut at Towcester and was actually on the tails of the leaders approaching two out in the novices' hurdle before tiredness crept in. Her eventual fifth place offers enough encouragement that a small handicap could be within her compass.
NORTH LANDING was having his first run since winning at Bangor last August in the 2m 5.5f non-handicap selling hurdle. His hurdling technique was rather tardy early on, but he stayed on better over this new trip and softer than ideal trip than may have been expected (albeit at the one pace), and he should be spot on for his next assignment after this. There is no reason why he cannot continue to ply his trade at this sort of trip rather than 2m from hereon in.
TEME VALLEY was also experiencing a step up to 2m 5.5f in the Betfred Poker handicap hurdle series qualifier and was ridden to stay the trip. Paul O'Neill threw him into the race four out but the horse has to be hard ridden to keep up two flights later and simply plugged on at the one pace into a still respectable enough fourth place. Easier assignments await at this, his favourite track, in the near future.
TOPWELL was the one animal not to show much, his 55l seventh place of 11 in the closing bumper comfortably his worst performance to date. A switch to obstacles now would seem more prudent than hoping his fourth and final bumper run will reverse his fortunes.
LUDLOW, Thursday 10/11/05
======================
A disappointing non-runner here was DURBA, whose form in novices' / maiden hurdles in mid to late summer had been absolutely diabolical, but who had attracted a lot of paper support running off a commensurately meagre rating of 74 - and the application of lots of headgear - for his handicap debut.
READY TO RUMBLE and TIPSY MOUSE DID run, however, with Paul O'Neill in the plate for both. The former failed to respond to first-time blinkers and being kept in mid-division, and sulked into pulling up three out in the novices' handicap chase. Tipsy Mouse, yet again running over an inadequate trip on a shapr track (3 miles here), was predictably run out of things late on in finishing fourth in the handicap chase. Richard Guest said in the [i]Racing Post[/i] that morning that he had found the key to the horse now, but his hands were being forced by the absence of good ground on suitably testing tracks. There may be the usual poetic licence of a canny trainer in there somewhere, but given the deluges we've had in recent weeks - such that even Cheltenham is running soft, for heaven's sake - he's probably quite right. The removal of quick-draining Doncaster from the jumps calendar due to refurbishment has removed the most obvious likely source of fast winter ground for galloping types this winter, so he could be a bit hard to place if things stay soggy.
NEWCASTLE, Friday 11/11/05
=======================
Panto time came early here as APADI - having his first run for the Fly By Night Syndicate after Anne Kenny let him go - tried to refuse to race in the closing handicap chase, gifted his rivals 25l, showed no interest in the job once he did get going, and pulled up after just three obstacles.
It capped a day on which three out of four Richard Guest runners showed little or nothing. SHEM DYLAN was once again walloped in the 2m 4f novices' hurdle, J P Flavin's 10lb allowance - reducing the horse's burden to 10-1 - aiding the cause not one iota as he trailed in 112l last of 12 finishers. He'll get some patience from Guest and Paul Beck, being another New Zealand horse likely not to have acclimatised fully yet, but he is light years away from winning anything on all UK form to date.
TIGER TALK was stepped back up out of selling company in the 2m 4f handicap hurdle but failed to justify the move, beating home only one rival home in 15th position. He also proved unusually difficult for "Bruce" Moorman to settle on this occasion - had he and Apadi been on the Es and Whizz the night before, one wonders?
RED PERK was the highpoint of an unsatisfactory day, running a sound race under Kenny Johnson to finish 1.25l second to a Ferdy Murphy horse already due to go 10lb up the handicap the following day. He remains in good heart and ought to find another small event before too long, as long as the ground does not tend to extremes.
WETHERBY, Saturday 12/11/05
========================
Two horses possibly being turned out again a bit too soon posted below-par performances here. The maiden hurdle TANMEYA contested had no strength in depth about it, but she still went off at 66/1 and trailed in tenth, although in fairness she did bring herself almost to a stop when getting four out all wrong, scuppering her forward charge entirely. ASSUMETHEPOSITION only faced four rivals in the 2m 4.5f novices' handicap chase on what looked like perfect ground for him, but he emptied five out and only got fourth place prizemoney when one rival tipped up late on. He's yet to replicate his best hurdles form over fences.
UTTOXETER, Saturday 12/11/05
=========================
Two runners, two second places, and an autumn's best from JERICHO III, although he still gave the impression of being a few pounds too high judged on how easily Dangerousdanmagru - trained, ironically, by Norman Mason's ex-assistant (and therefore Guests's predecessor at Brancepeth) Alan Jones - picked him off in the home straight. Former Brancepeth favourite NEPHITE (seven times a winner for Mason / Guest and twice more for Venetia Williams in the summer) trailed in back in fourth.
SOBERS was one of only two fancied in the bumper, and he duly contested the finish with the other, a Richard Phillips mares' bumper winner. Paul O'Neill gave him first run on the leaders 3f out, but was unable to quicken when the mare came to challenge in the final furlong and was 1.5l adrift at the end. Having run here and at Aintree previously, a stiffer test may be necessary to pinch one of these.
LEICESTER, Monday 14/11/05
=======================
The first jumps meeting of the season at the East Midlands track produced the usual differences in going, with the hurdles course - also the Flat course - riding soft and the chase course good to firm. On that basis it was questionable why MAGICO was allowed to contest the handicap chase; the course will have been stiff enough, but he was outrun by horses much happier on the fast ground than him in finishing fifth.
More disappointing was GHADAMES in the handicap hurdle. Not far off two stone better off over hurdles than fences, and with a proven record of going fresh, he was entitled to do much better than a 21l sixth place on his first run for six months. Chances are his next run over hurdles will tell us more about whether he is, purely and simply, destined to remain a better chaser than hurdler. Easier to assess ni the immediate term is ROAN RAIDER, who remains in rotten form both on the Flat and over hurdles. His eighth place finish in the seller represented a closer finish than at Kelso last time, but he still looks impossible to win with.
FAKENHAM, Tuesday 15/11/05
========================
Granted her favourite good ground and a lightning fast 2 miles, CERESFIELD would have picked up and carried the opposition in the Class F handicap chase in her pomp, but she trailed in a sad last of nine finishers this time round. The first-time visor which replaced the cheekpieces did not suit, not did the hold-up tactics which connections have persisted with for some time now. Why is this? Why are they not content to let her try to win from the front, which worked so very well on numerous occasions in the past?
Still on the subject of inappropriate tasks, MOSCOW LEADER - back from over a year off and now representing Gryffindor (www.racingtours.co.uk) - has been pencilled in as an Eider horse this season given his apparent staying capabilities and love of soft ground. That being the case, being sent around 2m 5f of Fakenham on good ground could only have ever counted as a pipe-opener (or just daft), and he was never closer than his eventual sixth here. Conversely DARGAVILLE, another having his first run after a lay-off, would have appreciated things a bit better than the gluepot he encountered at Cartmel last time out, but he has not impressed with his consistency since joining Richard Guest and he petered out tamely into sixth here as well. Sharp tracks and fast ground have brought about his best performances (Musselburgh here we come, then), but he has also disappointed on them and he does not look one to trust fully.
HEXHAM, Wednesday 16/11/05
========================
This was a well above-average card for the track, with the centrepiece, the inaugural Northumberland National, given a Class C rating and a top prize of over £13k. Richard Guest sent the in-form PASS ME BY into battle in this four mile slog, and, having run close to the pace for the greater part, found himself in the lead from 3 out to the last. Here, however, his stamina gave out, and he was demoted to fifth on the run-in.
This was certainly a punt worth taking, with the horse having finished a staying on third over the even more severe Carlisle track in heavy going over 3m 2f last time out, and connections still got £500 for their pains, but on this evidence he needs just a shade shorter than this trip - some of the 3m 6f chases at Newcastle would probably suit.
This was not the only encouraging run of another blank day, as debutant MR IRONMAN showed up well for a long way on his racecourse debut in the concluding bumper before weakening into fourth in the last couple of furlongs. He looks nothing special on breeding, being out of a poor 2m 4f novices' hurdler, and I think that, like TOPWELL, he will struggle to feature in better bumpers away from Hexham, but connections will doubtless find him low-grae hurdles in the fullness of time.
One of last year's lesser lights, PAPAWALDO, made his seasonal bow in the National Hunt novices' hurdle and once again showed nothing, trailing in last of ten finishers. He has now registered four duck-eggs from the same number of races, beating only penny numbers of horses in so doing, and whilst he now qualifies for a handicap mark, the early signs are that this campaign is going to be as unfulfilling for connections as last.
ISELLIDO, another of the NH-bred contingent, is being kept over hurdles for the time being, it would appear, although another comprehensive defeat here suggests she is not able to defy a current mark 9lb above her last winning one. In fairness she did seem to respond to the first-time eyeshield here, and was still leading until 3 out, but the chasing pack were able to overwhelm her pretty easily. I presume she is going to be aimed at mares' novices' chase series qualifiers at some stage soon, if the ground remains swampy enough, but she wouldn't be taking on that assignment in the greatest of heart on this evidence.
MARKET RASEN, Thursday 17/11/05
============================
ASTRONAUT looks like a horse who will not stand much racing, so opportunities have to be grasped whenever he does step onto the racetrack. The 2m 6f selling handicap hurdle did not appear to be one such opportunity, as for all that the contest was not a great one, the ground was also much stickier than ideal. It became even less of an opportunity at the fifth flight, when the horse gave Paul O'Neill no chance of staying in the plate.
Better luck for O'Neill later in the afternoon, as he got a clear round in aboard BERGERAC in a fair return from nearly six months off in the 2m 4f handicap chase. It was basically a clear round and an altogether more convincing display than on his chasing debut in a beginners' race at Cartmel, but his hurdling mark of 107 was awarded primarily for winning a poor maiden race at the same track only five days earlier, and it looks a tad high for him to be running off over fences at present.
Claire Metcalfe has been in blinding form in the saddle aboard ex-Guest inmate LONGSTONE LASS, now happily ensconced at Tracey Waggott's yard with Metcalfe herself the owner. The lady riders' handicap hurdle had previously been run as an amateurs' novices' event, and Metcalfe had come second in it two years ago when giving a UK racecourse debut to some minor creature called OUR ARMAGEDDON. She occupied the same berth here in the race's new guise, giving UPSWING a nice waiting ride to propel the horse into second place two from home, only for him not to pick up as necessary from that point on. Mind, the 2.5l beating from a horse and rider combination - Parisienne Gale and Caroline Hurley - successful together several times over hurdles and in point-to-points represented a sound effort, and it is only to be hoped that the handicapper does not take the result too literally, as there was 11lb between them on the book before the tapes went up.
posted by Jeremy Grayson @ 5:37 PM
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