Charisma Cat gets the Barbury wagon rolling again at Chepstow

January 27

Charisma Cat justified favouritism when making it third time lucky over jumps at Chepstow yesterday, surviving a couple of hairy leaps to win the mares hurdle in workmanlike fashion.

With Tom Bellamy “not 100%” after taking a heavy fall from Ski Lodge at Hereford yesterday, Tom Cannon was called up for the mount on the 8-11 shot, who, to be fair, jumped better than she had at either Newbury or Wincanton.

However, having joined issue with market-rivals Trinity Street and Clondaw Park at the penultimate fence, Charisma Cat had a memory lapse at the last and threw in her worse jump of the race.

Happily, Charisma Cat, though landing awkwardly, quickly recovered momentum and readily held the challenge of Trinity Street by a length and three-quarters.

Tom Cannon, delighted to be free to ride such a classy performer at short notice, said:”Charisma Cat is a good mare, and when she sharpens up her jumping and maybe steps up in trip she could be even more effective. It’s just a matter of getting the penny to drop at the hurdles.”

Charisma Cat was Barbury’s first celebration since we had three winners at Kempton two and a half weeks ago, but Alan returned from his sunshine break just in time to see the tide turn for the stable.

He said”Charisma Cat is not yet the finished article, and she was looking everywhere except where she should be looking at that last hurdle. However, the second and third are decent horses, too, so it was probably a good race, and at the end of the day she has won, which is the main thing.”

However, better still, with owner-breeder Robert Waley-Cohen putting the cherry on the cake in the winner’s enclosure when revealing that he plans to send Alan a couple more out of the same 19-year-old mare Tidara Angel, who was a pretty smart performer herself, winning a Grade 1 hurdle at Auteuil in 2011.