Big hopes for Saturday with a five-strong team chasing good prize money at Kelso
February 27
There has been no shortage of encouragement from our post-cough runners this past week, with Mystical Moon, Big Boy Bobby and Star Time all finishing second, Egbert looking sure to be placed in the prestigious Eider Chase at Newcastle until he slipped on landing at the final fence and Blues Singer showing plenty of promise when pitched into Grade 2 company for his jumping debut at Kempton.
So with six runners on Saturday, hopes are high at Barbury that there might be cause for a celebration or two this week-end, and Alan confesses that, having ‘suffered’ a dry February, he would be delighted to welcome March with a glass ot two of red wine should the results go our way,
Stable jockey Tom Cannon heads north of the border, and he is looking forward to riding Favour And Fortune in the Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso. With a good forecast for Saturday after a small amount of rain tonight, Alan is also upbeat about the chances of last year’s Scottish Champion Hurdle winner.
He said:”Favour And Fortune can race off the same mark as he did when finishing a good fourth in the William Hill Handicap Hurdle at Newbury, where he was giving the winner 17lb on ground softer than he prefers. We saw at Ayr last April how effective he is on a better surface, so provided the rain stays away I hope he’ll be in the mix again.”
We are making a big raid on Kelso, with four other horses joining Favour And Fortune on the long trip to Scotland. Alan added:”Drying ground would also be a plus for Helnwein in the two miles and one furlong handicap chase. He has been disappointing in two races so far this season, but Windsor was not his course and then he did not enjoy the soft ground at Sandown last time. However, he has had his soft palate cauterised since, so I expect a big show if the going stays as it is.”
Alan we need no reminding that three years ago we had North Lodge touched off in the Grade 2 Premier Novices’ Hurdle, and, while he hopes Castle Carrack can go one better this time around, he concedes that the impressive Sandown winner is stepping up in grade.
He said:”The plan had been to give Castle Carrack another run in an ordinary race with a penalty before going up in class, but I haven’t been able to find a two-mile novice anywhere and I don’t want to step him up in trip.”
Menaggio is also in action at Kelso in the novice handicap chase, and Alan hopes he might bounce back to his Plumpton form, having given him treatment after the horse bled at Newbury’s New Year meeting.
And we also have Elforleather running in the juvenile hurdle. Alan was delighted how well he shaped when beaten only three parts of a length by an older horse on his jumping debut at Southwell, so with a small field he, too, should be bang there at the finish.
Though we have no runners at Newbury on Friday, we’ll be represented at our local course on Saturday, with Nap Hand, denied what looked a winning opportunity when Plumpton was abandoned on Monday, being aimed at the handicap hurdle.
Nap Hand, useful on the Flat, has shown bags of promise in his two runs over hurdles so far, at Kempton and Huntingdon, and he is another who would appreciate underfoot conditions drying out.
