What an absolute thrill it was to see Ga Law winning the Grade 2 Rising Stars Novice Chase at Wincanton on Saturday under Daryl Jacobs for the Footie Partnership. I am still buzzing – there is nothing better in this game than to see a novice chaser jumping with such assurance and grinding the opposition into submission – a truly wonderful spectacle! That was only Ga Law’s fifth ever career start, and so he is bound to be improving, he looks to have a very bright future.
Having won his three chase starts now, we’ll look to step him up into Grade 1 company next, and the most obvious race to aim for is the Henry VIII 2-mile novice chase at Sandown on 5th December. He has been winning over the intermediate trip, but he isn’t short of speed, and Sandown is bound to be softer ground too, so the drop in trip on a stiff track looks the obvious route to take now.
Ga Law wins the Grade 2 Rising Stars Novice Chase.
I was delighted to see Mustang Alpha getting his head in front yesterday at Hereford. He had been placed in a couple of novice hurdles and a Class 2 handicap hurdle prior to yesterday, but he appreciated the drop in class and the step up in trip to win under a nice ride from Max Kendrick. Mustang looks a progressive young horse, and should make up into a lovely novice chaser next season, but before that there should be a lot more to come from him over hurdles this season.
Mustang Alpha wins at Hereford.
Kiltealy Briggs was a useful novice hurdler last season, but being out of a sister to a Grand National winner, we were always looking forward to going novice chasing this season. However, we had a blip in the spring with him as he suffered from colic after he ran in the Albert Bartlett at the Festival and he had to have two colic operations as a result. Thankfully, he had a good long summer break, and we’ve not looked back since. We found a valuable Graduation Chase over 2 miles that he was eligible for, and he jumped really well to be 2nd. He’ll improve a ton for the run, and for stepping up in trip now too, and he promises to have a really exciting future ahead of him.
Kiltealy Briggs before he's 2nd on chasing debut.
I was pleased to see Kalahari Queen run well to be 2nd at Chepstow earlier this week. She was placed in a Grade 2 in her novice days, but rather lost her way last season, however she showed that class is permanent and that she is back on track with an excellent run under a good ride from Page. She’ll go for the Mares series final at Hereford next month, and then we’ll have a crack at the Military races in the New Year.
Kalahari Queen is 2nd at Chepstow.
Unfortunately, we hit the crossbar with Legends Ryde today at Bangor, but only lost out in a tactical affair and I’d like to think she’ll make amends next time out!
Of our other recent runners, Coole Well was an excellent 3rd at Newbury, and should be up to winning again soon providing the handicapper gives him a chance! Alrightjack was 3rd over fences at Hexham and will appreciate stepping back up to 2m4, whilst The Longest Day was 3rd on hurdling debut and should improve in time.
Having hit the cross bar with a couple of runners, I was hoping Auba Me Yang would follow in the footsteps of his illustrious namesake the Arsenal striker, and hit the back of the net! However, although he ran well, he was 4th in a Chepstow bumper and looks the type to improve for a flight of hurdles in front of him.
We are lucky enough to be sent some lovely horses and the most recent arrival is a gorgeous 4-year-old by Flemensfirth called Up For Parol. He is a brother to the talented bumper winner Letsbeclearaboutit and out of a sister to the useful West Coast Time. Up For Parol was the impressive winner of an Irish Point-to-Point this autumn, and I look forward to finding out more about him in the coming weeks and months.
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