As the nights begin to draw in and there is a chill in the morning air, so the core jumps season begins, and I am delighted that our horses remain in tremendous form. However, we’ve had a stint of seconditis over the last two weeks as five of our last 10 runners have filled the runners up spot and the majority of the others have been placed.
I must start this update with Three Ways who ran a cracker in the Grade 2 Persian War Novice hurdle at Chepstow where he finished a close 4th. Considering that was only his 3rd run over hurdles, his 1st run of the season, his 1st run after falling at Cheltenham in the spring, and it was such a big step up in class to a Grade 2 – that was a fabulous run. I thought he would run into a place, and I am delighted that he did. There is still so much to come from this chap, as he was pretty green at times and he will want further in time too. He remains a novice until the end of the month, so we will drop him in class and try to give him a confidence boosting win before we pick a route to the Pertemps Final at the Festival in March.
Three Ways finishes 4th in the Grade 2 Prsian War
Our Reward has won two novice hurdles this season, one of which was a conditional jockeys race so he escaped a penalty for that win so we sent him back up to Sedgefield for another novice hurdle. Very few horses manage to win three novice hurdles but Our Reward went mighty close as he only went down by half a length to a decent flat horse who did us for a bit of speed from the back of the last. We were considering sending him chasing, but as the handicapper clobbered us with a 9lbs rise I think we’re better off to qualify him for the EBF Final and head down that route this season. However, he will be a cracking chaser next season.
Our Reward is jsut denied his third novice hurdle win.
Fact of the Matter was another to hit the cross bar earlier this month as he attempted to follow up his Worcester win. However, he found 2m4 around Huntingdon a bit sharp and he’ll now go up in trip and there should be more improvement to come.
The two-day meeting at Chepstow in early October signals the core jumps season is upon us and we had four runners over the weekend. Three Ways was obviously 4th in the Persian War, whilst bumper winner Queens Well made her hurdling debut in a competitive novice hurdle and ran a blinder to be 2nd. This was her first start since a wind operation, and this was a highly encouraging start to her season.
Queens Well canters to the start before finishing 2nd on hurdling debut.
Meanwhile, fellow bumper winner Wildehearted Women finished 3rd on her first start over hurdles, but she found 2 miles a bit short and will go up in trip before long too. Our final runner of the weekend was Irish Point winner Between the Waters, who was a highly promising 2nd on his racecourse debut in a bumper. He travelled away nicely, got into a challenging position turning in, quickened clear but then idled a bit inside the final furlong and got caught close home. There is 12.5% of him still left for sale, so if you are interested then do let me know and I highly recommend this chap.
Between the Waters is 2nd in a bumper - 12.5% for sale
Our seconditis continued yesterday when Adrrastos made a really exciting start over hurdles. He travelled well, jumped beautifully and quickened up like a smart sort, but the useful flat winner had a touch more speed from the back of the last flight of hurdles. I think our lad will improve and he could be quite exciting.
We have bolstered our team with some new recruits lately, and I was delighted to be able to purchase a lovely Galileo 3-year-old colt called Getback In Paris. He was a decent flat horse in France whose rating would equate to being 86 over here. He goes on softer ground, stays 1m2 and should make into a smashing juvenile hurdler this season.
Getback In Paris - a new recruit off the flat.
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