out in sticks
Read all about it with Jeremy Grayson’s latest list of runners to follow from the smaller venues
Jeremy Grayson takes a tour round the smaller courses
TAUNTON, 9 January (Good, good to firm in places) 2m7f3yds Hunters’ Chase (class 6)
At first glance a 25l margin of defeat in second doesn’t speak volumes for NEWSWORTHY’s achievement in this latest renewal of the winter’s first hunter chase, but the winner could hardly have come into the race better tuned up following a hat-trick of pointing successes just before Christmas. In comparison, James Henderson’s Presenting gelding hadn’t been seen action since the Listowel Festival and the rider - his son George – since a pointing fixture in May 2014! This nephew of one-time Champion Bumper scorer Cousin Vinny still has plenty of time ahead of him in hunter chasing terms at nine years of age, and whilst it remains to be seen whether he acts on as many different surfaces as previously, enough ability is evidently intact for routine hunter chases on a sound surface at least to be within his compass. Any jockey switch to the more experienced Dale Peters, who trained and rode a winner for Henderson at Sheriff Hutton this month, would be worth picking up on.
LEICESTER, 10 January (Good, good to soft in home straight) 2m4f110yds Selling Hurdle (class 4)
Already the subject of one career break of two and a half years, the now ten-year-old BUBLE had another absence of sixteen months to shrug off in this slightly above-average selling hurdle. Whilst ultimately falling 12l short, David Bridgwater’s son of Milan did shape with a good deal of promise, staying on again after losing his pitch completely at a relatively early stage, and trip and ground appeared to suit as much as they had for each of his two hurdling successes – one a maiden, one a claimer - during summer 2017. The bulk of his previous hurdles starts have come in non-handicap company, but an already career-low mark could find itself lowered just a little further following this return effort, rendering him a very tempting proposition in something such as a 0-115 next time out.
HUNTINGDON, 11 January (Good, good to soft in places) 2m7f129yds 0-105 Handicap Chase (class 4)
There’s no glaringly obvious reason as to why ARTHUR’S REUBEN should have improved for the switch to fences, being out of a 36-rated 1m7f winner on Wolverhampton’s original Fibresand surface with others in the immediate family successful in bumpers. Nevertheless, this near-2l victory, gained with a far more fluent overall round of jumping than on the C&D chasing debut which preceded it, both stands out next to all previous form efforts and marks him out as one at the right end of the weights to add to his tally before season’s end, especially with the option to return to novice handicaps still entirely open. The Malinas gelding’s particular pref-
erence for Huntingdon, scene of all of his best form efforts so far, shouldn’t prove hard to service as the winter progresses, and slightly slower ground appears to present no issue at this sort of trip. Jennie Candlish’s decent season to date was underlined further by the success of Big Time Dancer in the Lanzarote 24 hours after this, and if not blind backed she can still be followed confidently enough to surpass last season’s tally of 17 winners in the near future, being just three shy of that figure already.
2m3f189yds Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase (class 3, no ceiling)
It’s only 13 months since STAMP YOUR FEET last proved still capable of success over as short a trip as today’s, but that was around the appreciably more galloping test of Hereford and on ground a couple of increments slower. In comparison things happened too quickly for him on much of this chasing debut, but to the Galileo gelding’s credit his jumping held fast nonetheless, and a strong-staying finishing effort was sufficient to secure him what had previously appeared a fairly unlikely sub-3l second place. Tom George’s seven-year-old has long confounded expectations of what he ought to have become as a racehorse, picking up a bumper and three lucrative handicap hurdles rather than the Group level 6f-7f contests of his win- ning siblings, and a similarly improbable next stage of his career as a successful staying chaser awaits on this evidence off a realistic-looking sort of mark. A return to slower ground can be coped with, but flat tracks are likely a must.
WETHERBY, 12 January (Good, good to soft in places) 2m Maiden Hurdle (class 4)
As a winner at up to today’s trip on the Flat, and only a little shorter around galloping circuits such as Redcar and Wetherby itself, it’s not in the least surprising that INGLEBY HOLLOW was still putting in plenty of good work at the end of this contest in the style of one who’ll need a good bit further in this discipline. A 3l third behind a pair of rivals worthy of marks in the 110s (and in one case already rated a slightly punitive 120) rates a significant step up on his achievements in two other 2m-2m1f novice hurdles (albeit one another place finish) a year previ-
Jennie Candlish’s decent season to date was underlined further by the success of Big Time Dancer in the Lanzarote
ously, and a versatility as regards underfoot conditions that has secured him successes on anything from soft to good to firm in the past should help keep options open for David O’Meara’s Beat Hollow seven-year-old. A 2m4f3m northern handicap looks there for the taking.
2m 0-120 Handicap Hurdle (class 4)
WISHFULL DREAMING had contested the Lanzarote at Kempton on this corresponding raceday a year previously but finished well down the field, and little else had gone right for him in the interim until acquisition by Sam England. For the second race in succession victory was finally wrested from him here inside the final 150 yards or so, but in this instance by a similarly well-treated rival (a handicap debutant did for him at Newcastle the time before), and he doesn’t appear ungenuine. A brother, as the name suggests, to the high-class Wishfull Thinking, and already a three-time hurdles/bumper winner around big, galloping tracks at up to Listed level, the Alflora gelding still has races in him over the minimum trip around the right sort of course on the latest evidence, but a minor step back up in trip ought to prove liveable with. A still- intact novice chaser status could well be worth exploiting in novice handicaps, too, assuming he isn’t taken out of his comfort zone as much back over fences as on two initial attempts on dry surfaces last summer.
2m3f154yds 0-140 Handicap Hurdle (class 3)
SIMPLY A LEGEND’s most recent previous outing had seen him run Might Bite to 8l off a 5lb higher mark than today’s in a good class 2 Kempton hurdle. That was nearly three years back, however, and even if fully wound up this now ten-year-old was always likely to prove vulnerable off top weight on this return to something either more progressive or (as it turned out) a genuine handicap blot. A near-4l second to a Charles Byrnes hotpot still represented a tremendous effort in the circumstances, and Alan King’s son of Midnight Legend can yet reward the patience of both owner and trainer alike six years after he first raced for them with a fourth career success, possibly back around the right-handed tracks of all of his best win and placed form before today. Softer ground than this has held no terrors in the past and may still not.
KELSO, 13 January (Good) 2m51yds Novices’ Hurdle (class 4)
Disregard his actual racecourse debut of April 2015 and SKIDDAW VALLEYS had no particular previous history of running close to his best without the benefit of a recent outing; indeed, his three successes on the Flat were gained after breaks of just 20, 19 and 11 days. That being the case, a defeat of under 4l on both this first outing over hurdles, debut for Nicky Richards and first sighting since August 2017 has to rate a highly encouraging, trend-busting effort, and one upon which he could yet still build further with the visual impression given that a bit had been left to work on. John Wills’ homebred gelding isn’t especially bred for this vocation, being a Three Valleys son of a successful sprinter out of a 1m claiming winner on Equitrack, but nor should the 1m4f-1m6f of two of his successes on the level have been strictly within compass. Good ground appears to be preferred, and assuming this can be sourced a small northern novice event at anywhere up to 2m4f can surely be his this winter.
SHERIFF HUTTON, 13 January (Good) 3m Restricted point-to-point
Previous winners of the Aintree bumper for point-to-pointers gave the impression of being intended for a lucrative switch to full-time Rules racing at the earliest opportunity. 2018 scorer ROB THE GETAWAY bucks the trend, hailing from the yard of highly respected pointing handler Sheila Crow and with progression through the hunter chase ranks therefore likelier. An all-the-way 20l success against 16 rivals on this first outing since last spring’s victory on Merseyside could hardly have served as a stronger statement of intent, coming as it did in the quickest time of a fixture not short of quality. Question marks from his earlier days with Shark Hanlon remain regarding effectiveness on yielding or slower, but on anything else it’s inconceivable that this six-year-old from the wider family of Stayers’ Hurdle winner Trapper John won’t win novice hunter chases this season.