Ewart adds polish to a diamond in the rough

THE steering job is everyone’s dream. The horse that makes the task of winning a race seem so simple.

There was a time when Aristo du Plessis did not appear to have much by the way of steering, or not the responsive kind anyway, but he has responded to the efforts of Borders trainer James Ewart to win five of his last six starts.

That winning sequence – only broken by a fall at Wetherby – has seen Aristo du Plessis shoot 34lbs up the handicap ratings in the past 11 months and means he will be top weight for the totepoolliveinfo.com Hogmaneigh Hurdle at Musselburgh this afternoon.

Aristo du Plessis was bought from a trainer in France and Ewart reckoned there was something of the rough diamond about him. “He was a bit awkward, backward and unexposed,” Ewart said. “I have the video of one of his runs on a right-handed track and he nearly ran off the track he was so keen.”

Ewart decided his first objective would be to teach the horse to settle better in his races. However, training is as much about feel as it is science and Ewart shrewdly came to the conclusion that it was better to settle for what he had, a front runner with the power to keep going. “He can pull very hard, which can make life difficult sometimes, but letting him go out in front he’s a much more relaxed horse,” Ewart said.

Ewart can look forward to this race knowing that Aristo du Plessis can handle Musselburgh having won there by 12 lengths two months ago. Then he was ridden by the yard’s promising young claimer Dale Irving, whom Ewart credits with playing his part in the story. However, Irving is out with a broken collarbone allowing Diarmuid O’Regan, another 5lb claimer, to come in for the ride. “It’s unfortunate,” Ewart said. “But the young lad who will be riding him has come in and ridden him three times so he knows what to expect.”

This is a bit more than the rest of us – including Ewart, who is honest enough to admit that he is still not sure just where the ceiling to this horse’s potential might be. “How good is he? We’re all still guessing at the moment. The one race I’d like to win with him is the Scottish Champion Hurdle.”