Equinties - Cobden closing

Gm Equinauts

That beautiful man David Maxwell was headline news again yesterday.

Sadly, he wasn’t in the winners enclosure, quite the opposite in fact, by getting an absolute good thing beat in a way only Maxwell could.

Good lord we love him and it seems racing fans on X are warming to him too. He didn’t bet that much abuse for his blooper yesterday, people just laughed and seemed to enjoy it.

That’s what life’s about - having fun.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

COBDEN CLOSING

At the start of the month, Paul Nicholls told people on his blog that they were staggering their flu jabs in January – contrary to other years – and we suggested this could be due to Harry Cobden’s charge towards the title. Since then, Cobden has gone on to have a very bullish January and, due to a longer stint on the sideline from Sean Bowen, the stable jockey of Ditcheat is getting closer to the top of the table. 

Not all of us care too much about the Jockeys’ Championship, but it is obviously an influence on the on day-to-day racing we’re watching and betting.

Paul Nicholls has said in the past that he will run nice horses at some of the lesser meetings to pick up wins if Cobden has a good chance of winning the title. This was shown yesterday at Hereford as BELOW THE RADAR, a two-time PtP placed £60,000 purchase, won on hurdles debut.

Nicholls also has FIRE FLYER, a horse who was second to GIDLEIGH PARK at Newbury, entered in a Wincanton novice hurdle on Thursday and he could have a maiden hurdle double on Wednesday over at Exeter with FLORENCETHEMACHINE and LARGY POET. 

As the gap between Cobden and Bowen starts to shorten, Nicholls may be looking to help out his friend by lining a few up, so this season could be interesting for the yard.

MULLINS’ MONDAY

Bit of housekeeping to deal with from yesterday as Willie Mullins landed a nice maiden hurdle double with ANOTHERWAY and BILLERICAY DICKIE.

ANOTHERWAY disappointed on debut when well behind NO FLIES ON HIM, but he travelled well into yesterday’s race and beat a few decent horses including £150,000 debutante TOUCH ME NOT trained by Gordon Elliott.

Not too long ago, the 5yo finished behind SIMCA MILLE, a Group 1 winner on the Flat, over in France and that Flat upbringing was shown with his engine. His jumping does need some work and you would have to wonder how good that TOUCH ME NOT was on his first run under rules as having your first run in late January might be a telling sign.

As for the other, BILLERICAY DICKIE, there could be a good reason to be excited by him.

Rumours have it that Mullins wanted to give this lad good time to strengthen up after his last outing on the track in July 2022, but the 548-day break was worth it. No mistake about it, he bolted up and ran through the line with power.

Although Mullins may be looking towards another maiden hurdle before any Cheltenham thoughts, one can imagine he is a nice horse to get excited about.

FRANKIES RETIREMENT (POT) 

Remember Frankie Dettori’s retirement? Well, it seems to be going well for his coffers. The superstar jockey has earned nearly $1 million since his early departure from IM A CELEB with 52 rides.

Like over here, jockeys in the US take roughly 10% of winning prize money, roughly 25% of which goes to their agent and 5% to valets. Add onto his TV appearances, and the fact the big races of the Flat season are yet to come, and it looks like Lanfranco could be on to make some serious money in his final few years in the US.

YOUNG BLOOD

NEWCASTLE BUMPER

Burkes NALA THE LIONESS heads the market today, again, after we took her on (and best her) after she was gambled lto.

Admittedly, Burkes was given a stinker lto and this time Henry Brooke is in the plate. We wouldn’t be in such a rush to take her on. Burkey likes this horse and the only reason she’s running bumpers is because she won’t go in the stalls.

The better bred ones in this race are Micky Hammonds and Niven’s but they’ll have to be more than ready first time up to beat Burkes today.

Verdict: Burkes NALA THE LIONESS should make amends for last time at 6/4? A bit short for a fillies race!

RISK ON

15.55 FOLLOWANGO

The 8k price tag doesn’t put us off here, she looked good in desperate conditions for her bumper and then jumped well when giving a public schooling lto. If she’s off today (should be with yard in such good form), she can beat this field today. A play at 2’s.

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