Jeremy Grayson scours a pick of cancellation and wet weather survivors
MARKET RASEN, July 7 (Good) 2m1f43yds (+129yds) 0-100 Novices’ Handicap Chase (class 5)
At first glance it appears that either or both of the switch to fences and acquisition of cheekpieces has newly enabled DON OCCHETTI to start registering place finishes, an improved near-3l third to the in-form Clean Getaway this time following on from a wider-margin second behind the same rival over identical ground and C&D a month beforehand.
The argument that progeny by Presenting tend to prefer sound or quicker surfaces has often proved compelling throughout the late, great stallion’s covering career, however, and this April foal from his final crop (2018) had duly struggled to compete on easy or slow ground across last winter.
One of two notable regards in which the 6yo does defy his breeding is the ease with which he has taken to jumping the larger obstacles, somewhat at variance with a strongly Flat-oriented pedigree despite Triumph Hurdle hero Countrywide Flame numbering among the dam’s siblings.
The other is in the apparent need for an intermediate jumps trip granted a conducive surface, previous struggles at 2m4f recognisable with hindsight as more to do with ground rather than trip.
Emma Lavelle
WORCESTER, July 8 (Good) 2m7f (+272yds) 0-110 Handicap Chase (class 4)
The fitting of a visor provoked an immediate positive reaction from GALLOPING PRIDE, who had cut an indolent figure prior to pulling up on June’s chasing debut but shaped with infinitely more purpose on this occasion. The return to a galloping track and good ground was likely significant also, considering the son of Yeats’ solid second on his sole Irish point start granted the same trip and going (the third and fourth have won six races for messrs Greenall and Guerriero between them since). A
mistake two out won’t have helped in the final analysis, but as the eventual race winner had similarly given three from home a rub it would be pushing things to call Emma Lavelle’s charge especially unlucky to go down by a length and a half.
The Ogbourne Maizey handler is rarely one to keep a lot of horses on the go during the core summer jumping months, but ought to have seen enough here to be encouraged to give this still lightly tried 7yo another few opportunities in the immediate term, preferably around this C&D or one of Uttoxeter or Ffos Las’s 3m-plus trips.
2m4f (+272yds) 0-105 Handicap Hurdle (class 5)
Perhaps overly mindful of the greater step up in trip than originally advertised (not far off 2m5.5f once rail movements were factored in), Nick Scholfield did appear to set DANNY’S FRIEND rather a lot to do from the rear on this stable and handicap debut. For that reason alone, an eventual 16l sixth does the gelding a disservice, though a better jump two out may well have seen him finish a place higher.
The presence of the dam’s full brother Ballabriggs in the pedigree is hard to ignore, but at the same time many of the Court Cave gelding’s other immediate family members to have raced did their winning over sub-3m trips (notably Prelude Chase scorer Kiltealy Briggs), and one couldn’t conclude on the evidence of this first start for David Dennis that he’ll fare better over stayers’ or marathon distances. Keep him in mind in identical contests to this for the time being.
UTTOXETER, July 9 (Soft) 1m7f168yds (+22yds) Novices’ Hurdle (class 4)
You have to go back to October 2014 for the last time Robert Eddery saddled a winner over jumps, though the Newmarket handler’s ammo in this sphere has been numerically limited (only 38 runners in the interim) and few of those would have rated as potentially as nice a prospect as VIRTUAL ROCK.
A heavy-ground 1m4f Listed winner at Longchamp for Satoshi Kobayashi when last seen in April 2023 (form likely worthy of a triple-figure Flat rating), the now five-year-old didn’t shape as if in need of the run after 450 days out, a last-flight error which betrayed his inexperience over hurdles contributing more to the 5l margin of defeat than fatigue. The temporary return of unseasonably slow conditions will have been appreciated by the Fascinating Rock gelding, and how often he’s seen out over the summer may depend on whether the complete lack of experience of good or quicker ground in France was by design rather than coincidence.
Either way, this initial effort ought to give Eddery plenty of encouragement going forward, likewise the presence of two hurdles-winning siblings (including Grade 2-winning Irish juvenile Bottler’secret) amid such a Flat-oriented pedigree.
Willy Nilly
PERTH, July 14 (Good, good to firm in places) 2m47yds (+15yds) 0-105 Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (class 5)
0-14 over hurdles following a near-8l fourth here and sometimes inclined (as on this occasion) to jump or travel awkwardly once pressure is applied, WILLY NILLY wouldn’t be for everyone. The ability to alight upon a small handicap is definitely still there, however, opportunity appearing particularly ripe at the moment given the Morpheus gelding was starting his 2024-25 campaign off a career-low mark here. Headgear hasn’t provoked a sustained improvement in the past, the C&D third in the debuted hood not especially built upon in three subsequent applications, ditto blinkers and cheekpieces on the Flat after.
None of those experiments were any more recent than autumn 2021, however, and it could be worth trusting that the novelty of any headgear’s return, allied to that mark, might yet trick Lisa Harrison’s enigmatic character into compliance once at least. A step back up in trip can be considered, too, 2m4f having appeared well within compass on one experiment at Uttoxeter last August (beaten just over 2l, value for closer given his drifting and mistake).
STRATFORD, July 14 (Good, good to firm in places) 2m3f98yds 0-100 Handicap Chase (class 5)
The podium was locked out by competitors obliged to run from out of the weights despite the lowly grade; the first two home were 0-28 between them over fences before flagfall; and the veteran winner was recording a first success of any sort for almost eight years.
Plenty, then, with which to play down BUCK OF MAINE’s achievements in running that winner to about 2l, other than the fact Peter and Mickey Bowen’s charge retains far more upside in comparison as both a five-year-old and one raced just twice over fences. Notwithstanding one sticky leap after halfway, the first-time blinkers succeeded where cheekpieces hadn’t in inspiring the Buck’s Boum youngster to jump soundly and make his ground up economically from rear, and there was simply more to like about this performance than practically any since a pair of frame finishes in good-ground bumpers just over a year prior. The reintroduction of 0-95 jumps races (many
badged as limited nov-ices’ handicaps) has been a godsend to connections of many limited but willing animals, and here is one who’d warrant considerable respect given the greater likelihood of running off their true mark in any such contest.
2m6f125yds 0-105 Handicap Chase (class 5)
GENTLE CONNECTIONS hasn’t always convinced as fully in love with the game since the heavy defeat in the 2022 Persian War Hurdle which brought that year’s four-race maiden/ novice hurdling winning streak to an unceremonious halt. A near-5l fourth on just this fourth chasing start represents a better, closer finish than had seemed achievable halfway into the final circuit, whilst at the same time advertising the need for the return of some mode of headgear (those hurdles successes having all been gained in cheekpieces).
Winless in handicaps of any description, a current official chasing mark of 105 nevertheless stands all of a stone below her one-time hurdling peak with no obvious reason on breeding for the disparity in attainment between the two obstacle types, the Gentlewave mare being able to name multiple Graded handicap chase winner Midnight River among her siblings and the similar Iris Royal a brother of the granddam. Should all of the keys to her be found, it’s hard not to think a win in a run-of-the-mill mares’ staying handicap is attainable at the very least.
2m70yds National Hunt Maiden Hurdle (class 4)
All three of BELLE MONTROSE’s bumper and hurdling outings this season have been much of a muchness, a 10l third on this occasion once again laying bare the inadequacy of a 2m-2m1f trip under Rules.
The touchpaper is surely waiting to be lit under Sam Drinkwater’s Milan mare and, having merely wanted for a little late racecraft when second on her sole Irish pointing start (3m) to a subsequent Dan Skelton purchase, a step straight up to staying trips as soon as attentions are turned to handicaps need not be considered fanciful. A return to the soft ground of that effort between the flags ought hold no terrors, and it will require a particularly ungenerous decision from the assessor to put her on an initial mark that rules out all possible participation in class 5 (even a 0-105).
Neil MulhollandUTTOXETER, July 17 (Soft) 2m4f (+83yds) 0-120 Handicap Chase (class 4)
Stop all of DEERSTALKER’s starts two from home, and he may be sitting on a career analysis of three wins from eight by now rather than none. He’d found himself clear by that stage of his sole pointing start (2m4f) for Philip Rowley only to fall at the last, likewise in a Stratford novice handicap hurdle in April (2m3f198yds) before being chinned on the short run-in.
A weakening, near-6l fourth on just this second chasing start was a rather lesser return than had appeared likely when holding a decisive-looking advantage halfway up the straight, reserves running dry on ground wetter than expected when declared. Ben Pauling’s Walk In The Park gelding cut a considerably more convincing figure over his fences than on chasing debut, however, the debuted cheekpieces working a treat in that regard at least; and whilst this nephew of Wakanda (Peter Marsh and Sky Bet Chases) and Shanahan’s Turn (Florida Pearl Chase, Galway Plate) is entitled to make up into a useful or better staying chaser in time, it would be interesting to consider whether an attacking round of jumping out in front could reap rewards back down at 2m (or if kept to 2m4f, preferably on a less taxing surface).
