Crick all set for another success!
ANOTHER CRICK can score for the first time this season in the Berkshire Community Foundation Handicap Chase at Ascot.
Noel Williams’ eight-year-old has run with credit on all three starts since his return from a long absence, and he appears to have been found the right opportunity here.
Another Crick is paying his first visit to Ascot, but had no trouble with right-handed Kempton - over just short of this trip - when doubling his career tally two years ago, on his last appearance before a 654-day lay-off.
That performance came on good ground, as forecast this weekend, and was enough to see him resume his chasing career from a 10lb higher rating at Warwick last month.
In between, he had returned with promise when a hurdles runner-up at Uttoxeter in December - and then both his close fourth at Warwick and sixth in a Grade Three Newbury handicap were in strong company.
This assignment is less taxing, and Another Crick has shown enough to indicate he can win off his current rating in these conditions.
The same is true of Tinnahalla, who tops the weights in the preceding Betfred Juvenile Handicap Hurdle.
Olly Murphy’s four-year-old was reassessed 16lb superior for dispatching the useful Homme Public at Catterick.
That runner-up won next time - and although he was then well-beaten in the end after racing prominently in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, he was well-backed in that ultra-competitive Cheltenham Festival race last week.
Tinnahalla sat out the Festival, and connections’ patience can pay dividends with a decent prize here.
He was also runner-up to a useful opponent on his second of just three starts to date over hurdles, and his Flat form and pedigree suggests this better ground will be no problem at all.
The Flat turf season moves into a second day at Doncaster’s opening meeting, and it will be no surprise to see Secret Victory announce himself with a first success on grass in the 32Red Casino Handicap.
Charlie Appleby’s gelding is a two-time all-weather winner this winter, over a mile at Kempton and slightly further on his latest appearance at Wolverhampton last month.
He has become a prominent racer who stays well, and this move up to 10 furlongs - with James Doyle back in the saddle - promises to suit ideally on his return to turf.