Equinties - chall-oh!

Gm Equinauts

The Horse Writers & Photographers Awards (HWPAs) was held last night at the Royal Lancaster. If you don’t know what it is, neither do we but knowing the sport like we do, it can’t be anything more than a vanity buffet where media dinosaurs gorge on spurious awards handed out by friends and get so drunk on self-praise that the redundant barman at the Royal Lancaster Hotel could stand with his cock out and shout RACING IS DYING no one and no one would notice.

Okay, we know it’s a harsh way to describe an awards ceremony celebrating the work of familiar faces in the sport we love and make a living off, but when it’s all sponsored by the people killing the sport, the bookies, and no ones talking about it, it doesn’t sit well with us.

Betting props up the sport, but when no one can bet anymore because they can’t meet the ridiculous requests for personal financial information by bookmakers, what’s the sport going to run on - hopes and prayers?

Something needs to change and it could well start with the those receiving HWPA’s to start actually talking about the real issues before they all need to find a new job.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

THE CHALL-OH!

The next big race to get excited about is Grade 1 Challow Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury later this month as the unbeaten REGENT’S STROLL could be heading there, as well as the new monster THE NEW LION, QUEBECOIS and maybe even MISTER MEGGIT who is looking to follow up his recent success at Aintree at the start of November.

But the horse who shouldn’t be forgotten is POTTERS CHARM who has probably shown the most so far this season in typical Twiston-Davies fashion - by bolting up the Cheltenham hill!

Yesterday, we got an update about where he might be going next.

The Formby Novices’ Hurdle over two miles at Aintree was put forward as an option after his win at the November Meeting last month in case heavy ground came up, but with the potential lack of rain over Christmas, it looks like Newbury is the plan.

Willy Twiston-Davies said: “It looks like we have some seriously nice novice hurdlers in Britain this season and it will be an exciting race. All we can do is get him there in the best shape possible but we certainly wouldn’t swap him.

“We’ll probably give him an entry in the Formby [on December 26] at Aintree in case it was heavy ground, but it’s more than likely he'll go for the Challow.

“There has been a nice couple of form boosts from his win at the October meeting and he couldn’t have been more impressive last time.”

The ultimate aim for the Twiston-Davies’ is the Turners Novices’ Hurdle at the Festival, but how well do Challow winners fair at Cheltenham?

WICHITA LINEMAN won the Bartlett in 2007 after winning the Challow, but the Challow to Ballymore route is not an amazing one for winners.

THE RAIN IS GONE

Actually, we’re not talking about the weather which is really p*ssing us off - WHY IS THE GROUND STILL GOOD?

Salt and good ground will kill a punter.

Anyway, we’re talking about the Skelton’s mare LET IT RAIN who looks a proper horse. She was unbeaten before her second at Chepstow on hurdles debut last month, but she put that behind her to win at Wetherby last week.

But, news broke yesterday by a man who writes things about horses, named Mark Howard, who said said that the five-year-old has suffered a bad tendon injury that could see her out for the whole of next year, not just this season.

To reference the source correctly, in Mark Howard Publications Ltd, he said: “While working at Carlisle on Sunday, I received confirmation that the horse featured on page 23 has suffered a tendon injury which will require twelve months on the sidelines.

“Still quoted between 12/1 and 16/1 for the mares' novice hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, she won't be seen at Prestbury Park in March.”

LOOKING HIGH

The December Mares Sale kicked off at Park Paddocks, and they had a big sale go through the ring.

That sale came through CAUGHT YOU LOOKING who was sold for 1,800,000gns to Yulong Investments, a price tag that is a stark difference from her opening sale of €27,000 at the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale in 2022.

Yulong are no stranger to buying mares at a big price from this specific sale; last year, they bought VIA SISTINA for 2,700,000gns and she is now considered one of the best horses in Australia now!

On her future, Yulong’s general manager, Vin Cox, said: "She’s a well-performed filly and we think she has a pretty good profile to race on with.

“Our ambition at this stage is probably to send her to Australia and put her on a path not dissimilar to Via Sistina, who we’ve obviously had a lot of success with in the last 12 months.

“We’re not suggesting this filly is going to turn into a Via Sistina, although we’d love her to. But you have to keep your feet on the ground and just hope she can win some nice races for us down the line.

“It’s no secret that staying horses in this part of the world perform exceptionally well in Australia. She’s already stakes performed so she can retire to the stud irrespective of what happens in Australia. Hopefully we can add to her CV though. James Ferguson did a great job with Via Sistina last year and we’ll probably send her to James and he can look after her for the short term and then we’ll put her on a plane to Australia.”

Could another horse from these islands go on to perform at the very top in Australia? With their level of quality down under, it’s certainly a possibility.

RISK ON

Still no rain meaning Southwell is good to soft which is hard to punt given most go on it but we do like the look of the bumper selection and:

14.15 DAYTIME DREAMING

Ran a nice race behind good horses on rules debut to back up his point behind the now rated 130 horse in MIAMIA MAGIC. Short at 5/4 but that’s the best we can do today in the conditions.

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