Equinties -

Gm Equinauts

Big weekend pending…

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

HENDO’S PLAN

Last week, we spoke about the preliminary plans for JONBON this season and the fact that his usual two-mile chasing route is preferred over a stab at the King George. Well, Henderson has provided some clarity on the matter, as he said: "We’ll go to the Shloer and then the Tingle Creek, and then we can always review if we need to go further, but the plan is definitely those two. The timings are good and we’ll see how we go.

"He’ll have to go to a racecourse once or twice before his first run because he just melts the first time, so we can’t afford for that to be on a raceday. The plan is to stay at two miles for the time being, but we know he stays two and a half miles.

"In March, we seem unable to get it right. He just needs to be up there doing his thing. He started going backwards as the others were going forwards, but to run on and finish second from where he came from was a miracle. He ran a hell of a race despite everything going wrong.

"His record is amazing. When he came out and won the Shloer and Tingle Creek everyone realised that he is a superstar. Over the years he’s become a completely different horse."

We won’t go over old ground with this news, but the decision does make sense for Henderson, as he has another star in the yard who could well be a proper King George contender this season. Of course, JONBON is owned by JP McManus, and if the great man was on board with the three miles idea, JONBON probably would have been tried up in trip. It seems like he wasn’t, but this allows Henderson to prepare JANGO BAIE as his big King George hope for this season.

Henderson has always talked about three miles for JANGO BAIE, even if he did win last season’s Arkle. The irony of his Arkle win is that everyone, including Henderson, was quick to admit that he would never run over two miles again, even though he had just won the premier two-mile Grade 1 novice chase of the whole jumps season. The great game.

Both his Cheltenham win (over two miles) and his Aintree third (over 2m4f) showed that he is a horse who needs to try three miles soon, and what better race to aim him for than the King George around the flat right-handed track of Kempton? Even his second to KATEIRA in an Aintree handicap hurdle two seasons ago indicated three miles would suit him as he was almost taken out of the race!

On his potential season, Henderson said: "He’s very good. He was only beaten a short head in the Scilly Isles and at Aintree he finished lame, but I think he’d be going three miles at some stage.

"He’s a very exciting horse and he’s got to be considered a stayer in the making. I’d have thought the King George would be under consideration, but we need to start somewhere."

A few people were disappointed by his Aintree run, but there are two things to note. Firstly, Paul Townend’s race riding on IMPAIRE ET PASSE to keep JANGO BAIE boxed in around the bend was very good, and JANGO BAIE came out of the race lame with a small fracture.

We’ve seen time and time again how horses can improve for new trips, both on the Flat and over jumps. Just look at AL RIFFA this summer! Do not write this improving six-year-old off this season, especially if they try three miles.

Oh, also, Hendo entered LULAMBA for the Grade 1 Prix Renaud du Vivier over hurdles at Auteuil on November 16 last week. The race is worth a decent chunk of money (£110,000 to the winner), and the ground is almost guaranteed to be on the softer side, so it seems like a fair place to start out.

It also means he can run in a Grade 1 2m3f hurdle race this side of Christmas, which allows connections to go for a nice race while also deciding if he should go over hurdles or fences later this season.

On LULAMBA, Hendo said: "He could be anything and I hope he can be a star. Novice chasing is on the cards and we’ll be schooling him over fences like we did with Sir Gino.

"If he were to go down the Champion Hurdle route, then I’m sure you’d have to say he'd be one of the young protagonists, but I have a slight feeling he might want a little bit more than two miles.

"He’s not short of pace, but we’ll just see because he jumps like a chaser, more so than Sir Gino. He’s a big horse and he looks fantastic, and every day he’s full of enthusiasm. We haven’t got a plan for him yet. Until he jumps a fence, we won’t know what we do."

Hendo has also revealed recently that his ‘best hurdler in the world', CONSTITUTION HILL, is has passed all the checks and tests (including a visit to ‘equine’ specsavers) and should be ready to rock and roll in the Fighting Fifth!

GUINEAS CONTENDER

There was a lot to unpack from the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes, which is a welcome surprise, as the 1-2 from the race could both be potential Group 1 horses next season.

The Mill Reef can produce nice horses, but it hasn’t produced a whole host of Group 1 winners over the last 10 years. It’s a bit of a piss poor race these days, and some might argue the race really should be downgraded.

Has this renewal produced anything to get excited next season?

Well, the winner can’t be a Guineas horse next season due to the lack of an important piece of hardware, but the runner-up could well be.

Let’s start with INTO THE SKY, as in the gloom of Newbury on Saturday, it really looked like he had nicked it from the front. The STARMAN colt got to the front with two furlongs to go, and that forced Pat Cosgrave to get to work fairly early. When he did, INTO THE SKY did produce, and he really looked home and hosed with one furlong to go.

And then, well, WORDS OF TRUTH reeled him in and won nicely at the line. They pulled four-and-a-half lengths clear of the third, FLYING COMET, and both horses walked away from the result looking like proper horses.

So, how will they be campaigned next season? Jim Boyle has never really been in this position, but he won’t be silly with INTO THE SKY, and he has a natural Guineas Trial in his mind for the start of next year.

He said: “We are utterly delighted with him, if a bit gutted, because he's a big, raw weak horse still. He was a bit green and lonely in front and lugged left a bit.

“To do that on his second start was something a little bit special. I think the winner will prove a decent horse and they pulled a long way clear. I won't run him again this season, as he's a big frame–he's next year's horse and what he has done this year is phenomenal. We'll speak to all the owners and come up with a plan, but you might have to be thinking of training him for something like the Greenham.

“He showed so much speed, but at home we always thought he would be a seven-furlong to a mile horse and we'll put him away, let him strengthen up and maybe have an eye on the Greenham and see where we go from there.”

INTO THE SKY may have this aura around him because of his connections and his debut performance at 80/1, but now, he is extra special. This is because he is by STARMAN, and he looks like one of STARMAN’s potential Classic runners next season. STARMAN was a sprinter, and he has produced speedy horses so far, but the likes of INTO THE SKY, VENETIAN SUN, and NORTH COAST (trained by Joseph O’Brien) could form a pretty nifty Guineas team for the red hot sire next season. Interesting.

As for the Mill Reef winner, WORDS OF TRUTH, he is a LOPE DE VEGA half to ANCIENT TRUTH who unfortunately died before Godolphin and Charlie Appleby could try him as a potential Guineas horse. With WORDS OF TRUTH, they now have another chance to test the bloodline in some of the top three-year-old Group 1s next season, and what he did over six furlongs on Saturday suggests he will get further.

Obviously, Classics are off the cards with him, but the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot could be an obvious place to go, and then that would open up the possibility for races like the City Of York Stakes over seven furlongs. It will be very intriguing to see how he is plotted next season.

WEEKEND EYE-CATCHERS

MONTASSIB – SATURDAY 13.30 NEWBURY

MONTASSIB was having his first start for 336 days on Saturday, and William Haggas knew it was going to be a bit of a sighter ahead of the British Champions Sprint Stakes later this season. He broke slowly, and he was always behind, but the progress he made late was very eye-catching for a horse who would have been lacking fitness.
He was fifth in the Champions Sprint last season, and he was probably a bit unlucky as well. He’ll need a bit more luck this year, but if he gets it, he would have to be a big player on Champions Day, assuming the ground turns up on the soft side.

NOBODY KNOWS – SATURDAY 16.10 AYR

We usually put losers in this section of the newsletter, but we wanted to highlight NOBODY KNOWS, as he was quite impressive in the seven-furlong novice stakes.
He cost €320,000 as a yearling, and he has a pretty nice family. By WOOTTON BASSETT out of the OASIS DREAM mare THAI HAKU, he is out of a full sister to the Group 3-placed ALBARAAH, and THAI HAKU placed in a Group 2 herself. That’s a nice pedigree, and he looked pretty dominant on Saturday. He was warm in the market for his debut run, and he went like a very good horse. He could be very nice next season, and he should get further as well.

RISK ON

The first standout stat looks a bit plotty and if there is good support for him then he could be a play (we actually won on his this time last year in the slop).

Elsewhere we like:

17.30 SHES CRAFTY

Ex-Dunlop assistant Jack Morland has had a bright start to his career with 17 winners from his small yard, two being in the last week. SHES CRAFTY can prove well handicapped to leave her last run behind her when the ground was heavy. She should show a lot better on the aw now stepped up to 7f. 18/1 a solid ew and tiny spreadsheet bet with RF paying 47/1.

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