The weekend's horseracing was very informative, as well as being entertaining. I was fortunate to get a good winner under my belt on Friday with Bless The Wings, and the fitness of Alan King's stable runners was reinforced by good performances (and winners) throughout the weekend.
The "big boys" of the jump racing scene were all out in force with multiple winners from Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Alan King. I was particularly impressed with the performances from Nicky Henderson's horses as he sent just 4 to Ascot and 3 with2 winners ridden by Barry Geraghty, who managed a hat-trick at the meeting.
Paul Nicholls was not to be outdone, as he sent out 3 winners including a couple of progressive young chasers in Silviniaco Conti and Kauto Stone, and don't forget Cristal Bonus who also won at Down Royal. The former won the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby but I'm not sure just what he beat in doing so as they race collapsed with about 3 fences to go. Sure, Wayward Prince went on with the eventual winner and stayed on to be 2nd, but he was well and truly put in his place on the run-in.
As for Alan King, he had an uneventful season by his standards last year but he's got his runners in fine fettle this autumn and, along with Bless The Wings on Friday, he won with Raya Star at Ascot on Saturday. Other trainers who look to have their horses going well are Lucinda Russell who sent out a hat-trick at Ayr plus Bold Sir Brian at Carlisle on Sunday; and Sue Smith and Charlie Longsdon.
Some particular performances that caught my eye over the weekend were from:-
BLESS THE WINGS (Fri 2nd Nov): Resumed his progress and is one to follow until he reaches his ceiling. This win came off OR137 and he could be a 150+ chaser by the Spring, altho' he's not shown any sort of form on soft/heavy ground. Should stay 3-mile.
ROLLING ACES (Sat 3rd Nov): Was doing all his best work late-on in this 2m3f race, his debut chase race under rules. Seeing as he won over 3-mile over hurdles we should see him improve considerably from an increase in trip to 2m6f+.
RAYA STAR (Sat 3rd Nov): This was his 2nd win at Ascot and he looked like he had plenty in-hand. Could well stay 2m4f and has won on soft ground. Didn't seem to handle Cheltenham at the Festival, but there are plenty of opportunities elsewhere.
KAUTO STONE (Sat 3rd Nov): In my opinion, the best chasing performance of the weekend. The runner-up (First Lieutenant) is no mug and this was a decent field. This was his 1st attempt at 3-mile and, given his liking for soft ground plus that he is only a 6yo, we can expect plenty more to come.
CRACK AWAY JACK (Sat 3rd Nov): Had he stayed the 3m1f trip, he'd have won this easily as he approached the final flight looking to have the race in the bag. Clearly, his OR140 chase rating looks very lenient on this show.
WAYWARD PRINCE (Sat 3rd Nov): Likely won't be raised much for this as he was beaten 11-lengths by the winner, but this was his best performance since his novice chase season. Won't want ground too soft NTO, he ran his best race in the "Rowland Meyrick" on Boxing Day last season and could return for another go in December.
My own selections let me down on Saturday. Planet Of Sound did not look the same horse he was last season and he could be heading for the veteran chases now. Aces High just did not "turn-up" and ran as tho'
he'd much rather have been somewhere else. Perhaps he suffered from a recurrence of the injury / problem that kept him off the track for most of the past year. As for Kalellshan, his jockey needed a good talking to after falling out of the plate at the 4th fence when going well. Had he stood up, I reckon he'd have won that race by a street.
The blog will be back later in the week and the format for the immediate future is to publish online on Friday & Saturday, with a review of the weekends racing on Monday
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Good to see you back Ian.
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