The ‘Rocket’ set for lift-off
Afew set-backs last term, including a virus that affected many horses in the yard, saw Duncan Howells behind the eight ball for a couple of months at a crucial time in the season. “The virus set me back and I was way behind with my two-year-olds,” said the Ashburton trainer. That’s all behind him now and his newly turned three-year-olds are starting to show their worth.
Thanksgiving, an impressive winner at Scottsville on Sunday, finished fourth on debut behind lessor fancied stable companion Rocket Fire who arrived on the scene just too late to catch Flying George.
Rocket Fire, another purchase out of the Mayfair Speculators dispersal, lines up in the All To Come Maiden plate at Scottsville today. He is likely to start at cramped odds and victory will set him up for a tilt at the lucrative CTS sales races in January.
Copenhagen
In opposition is the Paul Peter-trained Copenhagen. Peter is a rare visitor outside of Champions Season so one needs to sit up and take note of his two runners on the day.
He has booked Anton Marcus for Copenhagen and Marcus will know exactly what he is up against having ridden Rocket Fire in work.
Dennis Drier took the wraps off a smart filly in In The Stars on Sunday, the daughter of Master Of My Fate losing valuable ground at the start but finishing off with an emphatic victory.
Drier saddles Golden Chance in the card opener and she looks to have been set up nicely for her debut.
Rested after her first barrier trial, her next trial was a better effort behind subsequent winner Monte Christo.
The majority of the field come off trials but two who caught the eye were Shock Victory and Song Of The Forest who contested the same trial. Song Of The Forest is a nicely balanced filly with plenty of scope. Wearing ear-muffs, she was always handy and stayed on nicely towards the end without any urging. Shock Victory caught the eye in the paddock as a filly with plenty of scope but she galloped very green and that may be a concern.
La Duchesse made marked improvement at her second start when starting at long odds but Paul Gadsby’s filly will be way shorter than 36-1 in the third.
She finished with a rattle under Sherman Brown, beaten under a length, and Marcus was quickly on the blower after acceptances to jock his rival off.
Brown will be on Carefree for Dennis Bosch who finished down-field on debut but has shown some ability in her three barrier trials. A better proposition could be Wisp Of Glory.
Two winners have come out of her trial behind Mela Stregata and she will definitely prefer the extra two furlongs.
Mutawaary
Mutawaary makes his debut for Bosch in a tricky handicap in the opening leg of the jackpot and it will be interesting to see just how the gelding has progressed from his trial.
For a horse that has shown his better form over a mile and further, he showed excellent pace as he matched the speedy Doing It For Dan in his trial run in 58secs flat with the balance of the triallists some four lengths back.
Peter sends out Defy Gravity in this race who takes a drop in trip and gets 2.5kg relief in the saddle courtesy of apprentice Luke Ferraris.
That may not be enough and even if Mutawaary does not run up to expectations the likes of Steam Ahead and The Poet will have their supporters.
Antony Hotspur looked to be going places after a delayed start to his career but was rested when finishing out of the money for the first time when tried over 1 700m.
He had excuses however, having cast a shoe in the race, and he has not been out since June.
But he does show good pace and Alistair Gordon’s charge could prove a little too classy in the fifth where Archilles, Drageda and Rockcliffe look threats.