Equinties - BC darts

Gm Equinauts

We’ll start today with a nomination for racing x’s Post Of The Week.

To be fair, this is one from the RacingBlogger is right up there:

It’s been nearly two decades since the Geelong Cup has had to be abandoned and he’s only bloody gone out there to watch it and they’ve had to call it off.

Bloody funny, but this post yesterday was very good:

If you watched the three-runner 2m4f novice chase that occurred at Perth yesterday, this meme is nail, hammer, head.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

FOUR-TIMER

We spoke about how the race between TRIPOLI FLYER, JET TO VEGAS, and KINGSTON PRIDE would be worth watching in relation to future Graded novice chases and in fairness, we were not wrong, but we didn’t quite imagine the race would pan out how it did.

So, let’s start with TRIPOLI FLYER, Fergal O’Brien’s Grade 2 winner who unseated at the third last. Let’s be fair, as a hurdler, he wasn’t the sharpest jumper in the world. When he won the Dovecote, he had a slow jump at the fourth last, he didn’t take the third last all too well either, and he scrambled over the last. He didn’t give his hurdles much respect, but the age-old adage is that horses who don’t respect their hurdles can jump fences well. TRIPOLI FLYER needs revising… perhaps TRIPLOI FUMBLER?

He can, of course, improve as time goes on, but he basically followed the errors of the horses in front of him. He is a herd animal at the end of the day. Perhaps next time he needs to lead. Ultimately he walked through one and unshipped Burke. You wouldn’t feel confident backing him in a bigger field where they go at a faster pace, that’s for sure.

Right, back to the horses who completed the race, and it’s hard to know what to make of KINGSTON PRIDE. Olly Murphy and Sean Bowen were making good noises about him this summer, but he drifted remarkably in the market yesterday.

Still, he jumped pretty soundly throughout, and that leap at the last was pretty sexual (as it was from JET TO VEGAS, in fairness). They are going to keep him at 2m4f for the time being, but he looks like a three-miler all over. He was a bit off the bridle early compared to JET TO VEGAS, but he found a lot, and he was doing his best work in that final half a furlong. He really sprinted through the line!

He doesn’t lack speed, and there is an argument to suggest that the race turned into a sprint because of the small field nature of the contest, but still, three miles would surely be his bag in time.

On his next run, Olly Murphy said: "That was a great start over fences for him. It didn't surprise me at all the manner in which he won, he just picked up like a good horse. I say we'll probably go to Newbury at the Coral Gold Cup weekend for the John Francome Novices' Chase over two and a half miles."

JET TO VEGAS will also be a nice horse this season; those two finishers will be solid contenders this year.

MORE HORSES TO WATCH

With the time of the season we are in, news can be a bit sparse because stable tours take up a lot of column inches in the Racing Post, Sporting Life, Racing TV, and At The Races.

They have a purpose but when there’s interesting racing right in front of you, one has to look at that before they can start piecing together Cheltenham clues, surely. Take Worcester today. Race one is a hot beginners’ chase, race three is a decent bumper, and races four and five are two divisions of the same mares’ novices’ hurdle.

We want to talk about a few of the horses running today, as some will undoubtedly be Graded horses this season, if not Grade 1 animals.

The first, obviously, is WENDIGO, who is set to run in the opener. Jamie Snowden had him entered at Chepstow two weeks ago, but good to firm ground shelved his plans. Worcester usually rides very nicely due to it always being underwater, and the recent race in Worcestershire should make it a nice surface for the Grade 1 runner-up.

He may be odds-on, but today is no slam dunk. Especially over this trip which might just be too short for him.

We’ve already said how PIC ROC has the Coral Gold Cup in mind, so he may not be a big danger, but WADE OUT could give him something to think about. He won his seasonal reappearance last season, and he flirted with the idea of being a good horse last season. Olly Murphy’s yard is running quite hot right now (47% SR), and he could have a little bit more speed than WENDIGO, who looks like a readymade three-mile chaser. Interesting race.

Snowden and the RC Syndicate also field LEGENDARY LUKE in the bumper, and he is a horse that Snowden thinks plenty of. He’s a point-to-point winner, though he has to take on YUMMY (a half-brother to the Flat winner MISTER BLUE SKY), NICE ONE ERIC (half-brother to the bumper winner ONE FOR THE TEAM, and GLANCING JACK (Hereford bumper winner). An interesting race we have of course dived into for premium subscribers.

Finally, in the two mares’ novices’ hurdles, Tom George has the favourite for both. Did we time-travel back to 2015?

The first race looks the stronger one as HERON IN THE PARK is set to make her hurdling debut. She won a Newbury Class 2 bumper in March, and the third, QUEENS ABBEY, finished fifth behind the now Willie Mullins-trained POETISA at Cheltenham in April. She also travelled all over the field at Cheltenham that day.

GETAWHISKY, for Dan Skelton, finished fourth in a Listed Market Rasen bumper last season behind KINGSTON QUEEN (Grade 2 placed since), CHARISMA CAT (Listed winner subsequently), and DREAM SHADOW. That’s good form, and this hurdles debut will be interesting.

So, if you have a spare afternoon, Worcester could be a good watch today.

AB BC

No, we’re not referencing a local pub’s cover band. Our attention has turned to the Breeders’ Cup for Aidan O’Brien, and it seems like MINNIE HAUK’s season is not done yet, as she is an intended runner at Del Mar next month.

Now, before you read this At The Races post and think she is going to the Filly & Mare, that is not the case.

The quote of “she definitely could go for the Filly & Mare Turf” is in relation to BEDTIME STORY – MINNIE HAUK has the Breeders’ Cup Turf in her sights. Lovely clickbait, At The Races admin.

Anyway, after her valiant second to DARYZ in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, MINNIE HAUK will be catching the plane to America, as O’Brien said: “Our races have been nicely spaced out this year and she came out of the Arc well; everybody seems happy with her so that’s what we’re thinking at the moment.

“Yes, she loves it [fast ground]. She’s a very good mover; she would love fast ground, absolutely.”

Some of the other horses that could join her are BEDTIME STORY in the Filly & Mare, GSTAAD (the Dewhurst runner-up) in the Juvenile Turf, PRECISE in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, THE LION IN WINTER in the Mile, and TRUE LOVE in the Juvenile Turf Sprint.

As for MINNIE HAUK and fast ground, it is interesting to hear Aidan say that. Not that we are disagreeing with him, but it’s not too often that you get a filly who can win an Oaks on good to soft and nearly win an Arc on very soft ground, but also bolt up in a Yorkshire Oaks on good to firm and head to a Breeders’ Cup on quick ground, knowing that she’ll love it.

She really is quite a special filly, isn’t she? It would be very cool if she stuck around for another year, but like KALPANA, she has done a lot already. Her CV is pretty stacked, and she could easily go off to broodmare duties after this season, while that would be sad.

RISK ON

Two bad darts yesterday, one out for a jog and one walked through a fence. Today is a new day, we dust ourselves down and stick to the process:

13.30 DROMLAC JURY

Symonds hasn’t had a runner for a while but his horses do run well fresh and now might the time to catch them. At the weights, this girl is the obvious play of his four running today. 7/1 ew and 269 ew treble with beer money on 14.00 GLANCING JACK and 16.53 PLANTAROMA for the lotto play!

16.53 HARRY JUNIOR

Runs in PLANTAROMA’s race. You can tell we’re keen to take the fave on here. This lad looks bad but his pedigree is very, very nice. The drift suggests he’s a dud but just in case he’s a lot better than his mark, he’s worth a play in the context of the race. His half brother, the ill-fated HARRY SENIOR was a weapon but only won when stepped up to 2M 4F. Okay, that was off 135 and this lad is off 81, but he surely can’t be that bad. 9/1 ew half bet to find out.

17.10 POWER FOR POWER

Can win this easily if not too keen. 5/4 a good bet.

One or two more to come we’re waiting on.

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