OUT IN THE STICKS
Jeremy Grayson gets out and about with his notebook
FFOS LAS, 17 June (Good to firm, good in places)
2m (+69yds) 0-120 Novices’ Handicap Chase (class 4)
This twelfth running of Ffos Las’s first and oldest fixture cut up rather on account of the ever-quickening surface (a 1/33 favourite won a match on all over good to firm later on), but this looked a fair race for the grade beforehand. It’s fair to say that runner-up LORD SCHNAPPS caught a tartar in the shape of the hugely impressive chasing debutant Courtland, who picked him off three out and disappeared into the long distance, but this still represented a second solid effort from as many starts this summer since joining Dr Richard Newland, who can be trusted to place him to advantage. As at Worcester the month before, a firstfence mistake actually proved useful in waking him up, with nothing about the Apsis gelding’s jumping thereafter giving any concern. A return to the 2m4f-2m6f of most previous outings won’t go amiss, and the pick of his previous Irish form includes sufficient encouragement on good to yielding ground should easier conditions be encountered.
MARKET RASEN, 18 June (Good to soft)
2m4f139yds (+222yds) 0-100 Handicap Hurdle (class 5)
This race may be remembered longest as the one which finally got Georgie Howell off the mark as a trainer under Rules, but if there is a performance to take note of among the vanquished it is that of WYNFORD, a keeping-on 7l fourth on just a second start since joining the canny operation of Rebecca Menzies. There’s a fair bit of back class to tap into, considering it’s just shy of three years since the son of Dylan Thomas was winning a class 2 stayers’ handicap at this venue off 27lb higher than his current mark of 102; and a step back up in trip, allied to a return to drier ground than this ended up being, can help smooth his way to further successes. Not always the most straightforward in his pomp (frequently given to hanging late on), he appeared tractable enough on this occasion to suppose his worst character traits remain some way behind him.
2m5f89yds (+246yds) 0-140 Handicap Chase (class 3)
It remains to be seen what sort of a bearing this Summer Plate Trial has on the big race itself a month on, with easy winner Lord Bryan highly unlikely to have as untroubled a time of it out in front as he did here and not all those he beat necessarily that progressive. MONTY’S AWARD would fit into the latter category after fourteen chase starts, but a 16l third this time rated a fair effort on ground that had gone against him as the afternoon rain fell, and it reaffirmed his effectiveness over the same C&D of his most recent win in the spring, gained off just 1lb lower. Not a summer jumper per se, but very effective around many of the tracks that are operational during the summer (2-4 at Worcester and 1-1 at Stratford, for example), he remains 4lb below his highest chasing mark defied and can fish in easier waters than today’s, being eligible right now for as low as a 0-120.
PERTH, 19 June (Good)
2m4f35yds (+97yds) 0-105 Handicap Hurdle (class 5)
A drop down to his lowest mark since April 2019, teamed with a first step up from 2m since joining current connections, duly inspired better again from MALANGEN. Only ever a winner under either code between late March and early August, and only around sharp, flat tracks on good ground in recent times, the fact Lisa Harrison’s six-year-old has taken so well to Perth augurs well for a seventh career success within the next month to six weeks (during which there are five racedays at Scone Palace). Although well treated at present, it’s also worth reiterating his effectiveness in non-handicap plating company, should a return to sellers or claimers (1-1 in each) be in the offing.
WORCESTER, 20 June (Good)
2m7f (+96yds) 0-100 Handicap Chase (class 5)
A good servant under Rules and in points for Alastair and Diana Ralph and (latterly) their head lad Callum Griffiths for over six years now, MASTER SUNRISE came up short against a far more progressive chaser in this big-field staying handicap but otherwise had the rest beaten long intervals. Well placed to win both starts in a necessarily truncated 2021 pointing campaign, including the first ever race at the new Shelfield Park line near Alcester (firm), the Blueprint twelve-year-old has clearly carried that good cheer back into the professional sphere, and even a small rise for this effort would still leave him well below his highest defied mark of 102. Twice successful under Rules in July, and with stamina to spare at this trip having finished second in a John Corbet Cup a few years back, his turn definitely appears to be nearing again.
2m4f (+96yds) 0-130 Handicap Chase (class 3)
It’s taken DARCY WARD quite some time to get back on track following a sobering experience in the 2019 Summer Plate, with nothing about three previous starts this spring since an eighteen-month absence offering conspicuous encouragement. A game of dodgems up the run-in with his nearest rivals and demotion from second to third in the stewards’ room doesn’t detract from the fact that this was much better, the application of blinkers and return to a galloping track allowing Jack Barber’s eightyear-old to get into a decent rhythm, and this former Worcester winner off 11lb higher suddenly looks dangerously handicapped. A campaign based around trips back here and to Ffos Las (ahead of an autumn return to Exeter, where he’s 2-2) looks easy to recommend, and the drier the summer the better as far as this son of Doctor Dino is concerned.
2m (+60yds) Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle (class 4)
Little went right for GINGER DU VAL over hurdles for Nigel Twiston-Davies this winter and spring just gone, doubtless to the disappointment of high-profile owners encouraged by her two wins (good turf and standard Viscoride) and a Grade 3 second in French bumpers for Gabriel Leenders beforehand. It’s not taken Mel Rowley long to find some of the keys to her, however, judged on a length second (splitting two last-time winners) on this stable debut that would almost certainly have been a victory but for a bungling leap at the last; and from having been well beaten off 98 in a handicap not so long ago, a routine summer mares’ novice now looks a formality. Sound surfaces and trips closer to 2m than 2m4f look the best fit for the daughter of Rail Link, and a concentration aid may yet prove a beneficial addition where jumping better under pressure is concerned.
NEWTON ABBOT, 21 June (Good to soft, soft in places)
2m4f216yds (+24yds) 0-120
Novices’ Handicap Chase (class 4) It’s safe to assume midsummer novice handicap chases weren’t originally part of the plan for Highclere Thoroughbred Racing with WHISKEY LULLABY, but their half-sister to
Petit Robin and cousin of Anibale Fly has proven a slower burner to date. The lead enjoyed on her last two hurdling outings was denied her on this switch to fences, with the foot-perfect all-the-way winner coercing her into errors, but a 9l second represented a serviceable return to action following a break and wind surgery and one which can be built on. The often calmer waters of mares’ chases are of course an option, and Paul Nicholls’ Stowaway mare ought not mind a return to a longer distance or a more galloping track.
NEWTON ABBOT, 22 June (Soft)
3m1f170yds (+105yds) 0-105 Novices’ Handicap Chase (class 5)
A near-16l third for LURE DES PRES is an effort well worth marking up, given that the soft ground would have been exactly what the doctor didn’t order and the effort of chasing the winner from a fair way out caught up with him late on. A nephew of 2014 Grand National third Double Seven from the broader family of the top-notch Cahervillahow, the Robin Des Pres gelding’s two pointing successes in 2019 for Mike Vanstone (partner of trainer Linda Blackford) were gained around longer, bigger courses than Newton Abbot, and a last-time failure at Ffos Las that was not of his making (hampered by faller early) shouldn’t dissuade connections from considering return visits to that likely suitable track over the summer. Still very low mileage in handicap chases for one his age and on an increasingly tempting mark, a sound-surface low-grade staying event can surely be his.