Racing is a great leveller....with the horses continuing to run well (64% of our October runners have either won or been placed) I was hugely disappointed with Present View’s race on Saturday in the Ascot Gold Cup.
Unfortunately Present View never picked up the bit, and slowly lost ground throughout the race, and to be perfectly honest he never looked interested at all. He’s always been a complex character and so far we’ve cajoled him into performing well, but on Saturday that complex character turned against us, and he threw the towel in. Having hoped and thought he would relish the step up to 3 miles and thinking this would open up more options for us….we’re now left pondering where we go from here. Undoubtedly he is a talented horse, and he has given us the best moment of my training career, but on Saturday he left me very disappointed.
Meanwhile, Souriyan ran a very good race at Carlisle yesterday to be beaten just over 1 length into 3rd. He jumped the last upsides the winner, and fought all the way to the line but just got run out of it in another close finish. Kenobe Star made his debut for us at Huntingdon in a juvenile hurdle and finished a very creditable 4th. He came to us having run pretty poorly in two flat starts but showed a willing attitude to hurdling and looks to have a future in this discipline.
Of our other recent runners both Be On Time and Shockingtimes finished 2nd. Shockingtimes was narrowly denied by a neck at Stratford on Thursday. He was left 4 lengths clear at the last and just had to gallop to the line, but instead he idled close home and was collared in the shadow of the post! Be On Time on the other hand was 2nd at Fakenham on Wednesday. He jumped well, but he found the track a little sharp and a mistake at the 2nd last put paid to any chance he had of winning. We’ll find a more galloping track for him, or step him up in trip and he should be winning again before long.
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