Midgley hoping Murphy and Final Venture can deliver
TRAINER Paul Midgley says there are “no negatives” ahead of Final Venture’s quest to land the Pepsi Max Scarbrough Stakes on the first day of Doncaster’s St Leger meeting at Doncaster.
Second to the David Griffiths-trained Take Cover in the Beverley Bullet earlier this month, Final Venture is coming to the end of a long campaign that saw him win races in Dubai in both January and February.
“He will go off the boil at some point. In all likelihood, he will have a break after Doncaster with a view to going back to Dubai, but there are no negatives,” Midgley told
“He ran great at Beverley. He was a little bit slow out of the stalls, and a bit further back than he normally is. If the race had been run a little bit differently, he would have been a lot closer to Take Cover.”
Top jockey Oisin Murphy – another plus because of his allround horsemanship – is back in the saddle for the first time since winning on Final Venture at Haydock in June.
Yet the key, says Midgley who trains near Leavening, is getting to know the horse’s mood. “He takes a bit of man-management,” said the handler. “Oisin knows him and will try and keep a lid on him before the start.”
Midgley also saddles Desert Law who was sixth in the aforementioned Beverley race. He paid the price for running enthusiastically in the early stages, but the trainer believes the likely strong pace in today’s sprint will help his charge to settle.
Specialising in sprinters, Midgley’s 40-runner string have already won more than £430,000 in prize money – a best for the yard – as the quality of horses improves. “It didn’t happen by design, it’s just the way it has happened,” he said. “We’re up on prize money, down on winners, but it’s all about prize money. We’ve got good quality horses now.”
He’s potentially doublehanded in Saturday’s William Hill Portland on Saturday. Yet, while he says Tarboosh will relish the likely soft ground, he says Desert Law will only run if conditions dry out.
Ralph Beckett hopes to have Simple Verse ready in time for a second shot at the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot.
The 2015 St Leger winner has not been seen since trailing home last in the Ascot Gold Cup. Plans are now in place to send the five-year-old to the two-mile Group Two contest on October 21, in which she finished third 12 months ago.
Iain Jardine has given Ebor winner Nakeeta the go-ahead to contest the Emirates Melbourne Cup.
The handler had been noncommittal about sending his stable star to Australia, but has been persuaded by a favourable weight of 53kg (8st 5lb). “I think we’ll go,” said Jardine. “He’s got the same mark as Heartbreak City (last year’s Ebor winner who finished a close second in Melbourne) and he should get a run.”
Former champion apprentice Jason Hart is closing in on a career best number of winners after the Yorkshire-based jockey rode a hat-trick at Catterick yesterday courtesy of Captain Jameson, Wotabreeze and Indian Pursuit.