While not the best of results for the blog with our initial selection for the 2016-17 jumps season, BALLYKAN ran well enough to be 3rd on Saturday which meant we only lost £1.25 of our £15 stake money and recovered the balance. There was a point in the race as the leaders turned for home that I thought our selection was going to come and take the race as he was going very well in 2nd place just behind the eventual winner. unfortunately, when he was asked a question by his rider, he found little and was only able to stay on into 3rd.
The race winner was Vintage Vinnie who was another from my alert list - along with Cernunnos and Ballykan - and while this wasn't an improvement on his best chasing form, it was a positive in the manner of his racing. It seems that a bit of maturity has helped this horse to settle in his races, as although he still wants to be prominent, he isn't fighting for the lead in the way he did in his races last season.
What this performance did was to confirm a couple of points:-
1) the Rebecca Curtis stable appears to be fighting fit and back to full strength after a season when something was definitely amiss;
2) a direct effect of last season is that (due to the poor performance in general of the stable last season) the Curtis horses are well-handicapped for 2016-17 and we should pay close attention to them going forward.
The may be some more to come from Vintage Vinnie, especially over a longer trip than this, so he stays on the alert list. However, I'm not sure that Ballykan will be remaining on the alert list as this race seemed to suggest he's reached his ceiling of ability.
Earlier on the Market Rasen card, the extended 2-mile handicap hurdle looked like it was going to last years race winner CLOONACOOL. He had eased himself into a challenging position approaching the 2nd-last flight without much effort. Unfortunately, he clipped that flight, lost his footing and crumpled on landing. Cloonacool was already on my alert list, but I wasn't quite sure of his fitness and he was having his first run since last March, and he'd spend the latter part of the 2015-16 season chasing. What I had already deduced was that he was a lot better than his OR135 hurdles rating (and he showed that on Saturday); and we know he can jump a fence too - and he looks a lot better than his OR140 rating in that sphere. He looks one to be on next time out wherever he races.
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All the best from Wayward Lad
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