HORSE RACING
There was quality in abundance at Ayr’s William Hill Raceday last Wednesday with performances from several horses that bode well for the coming months.
The headline act was undoubtedly the
six year- old grey Elvis Mail from the Nick Alexander yard having his first ever run over fences and the four time hurdles winner certainly disappoint.
On paper the William Hill Extra Places Every Day Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase looked a tight affair with on paper anyway the pick of the four runners appearing to be the unbeaten Nicky
Richards’ raider Marown also making his chase debut.
But what we witnessed in the end was a decisive win by Elvis Mail although he gave jockey Lucy Alexander a few hairy moments with a rather sketchy round of jumping.
Nick Alexander confessed after the
race: “I couldn’t watch it. I stood alone and listened to the commentary.
“He can make the odd mistake but he’s got a real turn of foot.
“He’ll need to jump better at the level he’s going to have to race at now and Lucy will have to work on his jumping at home.”
If these jumping deficiencies can be eradicated Elvis can certainly be expected
to hold his own in the top two mile novice chases this winter.
As for Marown don’t write him off just yet.
A longer trip will be better suited to this long striding gelding and I wouldn’t be surprised to see his long term target this season being the valuable three
mile chase on Scottish Grand National Saturday next April.
Another chaser to impress on Wednesday was the Gillian Boanas trained Crixus’s Escape who had an epic battle with Bigirononhiship in the three mile chase and responded to Sean Quinlan’s urgings to win by a length and a quarter with the third horse a further five lengths in arrears.
Jockey David Bass travelled to Ayr from his home near Cheltenahm for one mount and he made it a winning one when Those Tiger Feet won the two mile three and a half furlongs hurdle.
The Kim Bailey trained gelding has won three times all on his first outing of the season and with all the wins coming in the month of November.
A horse for your notebooks is Happy Hollow who was third beaten fourteen and a half lengths in the maiden hurdle.
He won three bumpers on the bounce back in 2016 before being off the track for three and a half years returning on the Flat last month.
Trained by Jennie Candlish he could be pretty special.