OUT IN STICKS

Jeremy Grayson has been around the smaller tracks looking for future winners

Jeremy Grayson travels around the smaller tracks

FAKENHAM, 7 May (Good) 2m5f44yds 0-100 Handicap Chase (class 5)

For all that it worsened his career return to one win from 28 runs, there is no shortage of reasons to take a positive view about KINGSTON MIMOSA’s second in this low-grade handicap, not least that the 27th run had been at Kempton only a day before. Either or both of the fences coming at him too quickly on this first visit to Fakenham and the potentially unnerving effect of a bad bump from a rival contributed to a litany of mistakes to halfway, the effects of which he was nevertheless able to shrug off well enough to run the well-handicapped winner to a length. Yet to finish out of the first three in four outings since switched to chasing and – barring those early issues here – a tidy enough jumper despite a pedigree far more suited to 7f-1m on the Flat, Mark Gillard’s son of Kheleyf wouldn’t be inconvenienced by a small drop back in trip or any slight easing in conditions, if a similarly near miss at Exeter (2m3f) in mid-April is any guide.

FONTWELL, 8 May (Good, good to firm in places) 3m1f210yds (+27yds) 0-115 Handicap Chase (class 4)

The comparatively progressive and mild-mannered STORMY MILAN’s failure to emerge on top in this field of Jekyll and Hyde characters shouldn’t be taken as a chance gone begging or disappointment, but rather as evidence that trips significantly in excess of 3m probably just stretch his stamina reserves that little bit too far. Certainly a 6l second rates a heavier defeat than seemed in the offing approaching the final fence, but this still lightly tried son of Milan, described as “a good, fun horse” by rider Paul O’Brien after his previous Huntingdon success over some 2f shorter, remains on a basically upward trajectory yet ought to be able to contest 0-125 or lower for a short while longer. Barring one nod on landing during that victory, Charlie Longsdon’s six-year-old appears to have no issues with jumping quickly and accurately at speed on sound or drier surfaces, an asset which can likely be put to good use around the Stratfords of this world as the summer progresses.

AINTREE, 17 May (Good) 2m209yds (+20yds) Point-to-Point NH Flat Race (class 3)

The programming of bumpers at actual point-to-point fixtures (a double-figure total of such races was scheduled for the 2018-19 British season) continues to polarise opinion, but Aintree’s Rules bumper for pointto-point winners predates these, this renewal being the fifth since Chap took the inaugural event in 2015. GRANNY’S SECRET booked her place via a determined success in a bumper over Bangor-on-Dee’s pointing track and, trained and ridden now as then by Ben Pauling and Aaron Rid, threw in a wholehearted effort to secure a keeping-on 2l third having twice gained and lost the lead up the straight. Both the dam and granddam are unraced siblings of bumper winners – none other than Festival scorer Wither Or Which in the case of the latter – and the temptation to keep the five-year-old daughter of Stowaway to such races for the time being must be strong, especially with her already proven effectiveness on both soft and good liable to help Pauling place her to advantage.

BANGOR-ON-DEE, 18 May (Good) 2m4f72yds 0-115 Handicap Chase (class 4)

Returning from an absence even as long as 770 days, as was the case here, is not something that’s usually especially offputting when the returning horse is trained by Nigel TwistonDavies, but DEPUTY COMMANDER wasn’t conspicuously strong in the market and was never getting there quickly enough in the race proper as the strong pace just wouldn’t collapse sufficiently. A defeat of just under 2l nevertheless rated a very solid comeback for the son of Shantou, given his only success over this short a trip was recorded over hurdles around Uttoxeter’s more galloping circuit in heavy ground, and whilst there’s always the fear that there might not be much more improvement on this return effort to come from him, the counterargument is that the now ten-year-old gelding retains relatively low mileage for his age. A mark which had been dropped a very accommodating 7lb

during his layoff can yet be cashed in on, either returned to 3m or easier ground, or both.

3m5yds 0-120 Novices’ Handicap Chase (class 4)

A very respectable staying novice handicap for the time of season required RATFACEM CDOUGALL to concede experience of Rules fences to a couple of no less useful types, and the better established racecraft of those rivals in this discipline duly enabled them to restrict him to an eventual 4l third. The Robin Des Champs six-year-old looks all over a staying chaser despite being a nephew of 2003 Triumph Hurdle winner Spectroscope (one of several winning hurdlers thrown by his successful juvenile sprinter dam), and whilst Ben Case wouldn’t be as prolific as many during the summer months he’s certainly capable enough of finding opportunities for those he keeps on the go (notably Worcester semi-regular turned Grand Annual scorer Croco Bay). With the benefit of this sighter over fences under his belt, and assuming good ground can continue to be sourced, there may even be the temptation to pitch the former Stuart Crawford-trained Irish point winner into beginners’ or non-handicap novice chase company, with neither division at its strongest over the next few months.

MARKET RASEN, 19 May (Good)

2m4f139yds (+186yds) 0-130 Handicap Hurdle (class 3) Martin Keighley’s assertion back in January that BACK ON THE LASH will need further than 2m and be a better horse from the spring onwards hasn’t entirely been borne out by results since that day’s minimum-trip Ludlow novice hurdle success. Nevertheless, a 7l second place here dropped slightly in class following a flop at Cheltenham’s April fixture got him back on track to a fair extent, even if the late effort was a touch onepaced, and the plentiful options for a low-120s rated animal such as him during the summer calendar should keep options open, especially if able to translate his best work to date on flat right-handed tracks back over to the anticlockwise equivalent. The son of a bumper and staying hurdle winner (with many scores during the summer season) whose own siblings include scorers in 6f-7f Flat contests and 3m chases, it

remains to be seen what distance, and indeed discipline, wins out as the Malinas gelding’s preference.

LUDLOW, 20 May (Good, good to firm in places)

2m7f174yds 0-105 Novices’ Handicap Hurdle (class 4) This looked quite hard work for TRUMPS BENEFIT on his first outing since September, but to the Beneficial gelding’s credit he did consent to keep on, if a little bereft of pace to be able to keep the margin of defeat below 10l. A good-ground maiden winner last year as late into the Irish pointing season as June, Peter Bowen’s six-year-old wasn’t overraced last term following acquisition by trainer’s son Mickey and well-known owner Carl Pyne; but assuming he derives the maximum benefit from this return run, he’s in the right hands to be given plenty of opportunities during the summer. A descent into class 5 company can be considered with his current mark. 2m7f171yds 0-115 Handicap Chase (class 4) BILLY HICKS’s enthusiasm for getting on with things got the better of him on this occasion as, possibly egged on by the first-time blinkers, the Kayf Tara gelding’s decision to sprint for home fully a circuit out caught up with him jumping the last. The bare details of an eventual 5l second to a more patiently ridden rival don’t entirely do him justice, but they do confirm Sam Drinkwater’s still relatively lightly tried chaser to be on a mark – a stone below his initial one over fences from the previous autumn – from which he can prove highly competitive. Previously a hurdling winner at sub-2m4f trips over both Ludlow’s sharp, flat right-hander and the polar opposite test provided by Chepstow, letting him have his head dropped back half a mile or more in distance (and certainly made more use of than on either previous 2m chase start) looks the obvious way to go. A wet summer would hold no terrors for this dual soft-ground scorer.

1m7f169yds 0-120 Handicap Hurdle (class 4)

BAGAN has already given the Tom Gretton Racing Club some grand days out, having taken in the likes of Musselburgh, Fakenham and Worcester in the past nine months. The Sulamani gelding’s immediate family presents a muddling picture as to what his optimum trip might turn out to be, being the son of a 6f juvenile winner whose own siblings include Red Mills Trial Hurdle scorer Balla Sola and multiple 2m-2m5f Grade 2 chase winnerturned-Grand National sixth Celibate. Nevertheless, enough about this latest outpaced 10l fourth, and the rather closer 2m2.5f Market Rasen third place finish which preceded it, recommends him for an extended run of outings in the short term over further than the minimum jumping trip - and maybe even a step up to 2m4f before long.