Drying ground is a plus for Favour And Fortune in the big hurdle at Newbury on Saturday

February 6

Alan has saddled five seconds since Castle Carrack won at Sandown a fortnight ago, but Rockola will be a warm favourite for the three-mile plus mares handicap hurdle at Huntingdon today, and, with Newbury’s local weather forecast predicting dry weather for the rest of this week, he is quietly confident that Favour And Fortune can get in the frame in Saturday’s feature race on our local course, the William Hill Handicap Hurdle, which for many years carried the Betfair sponsorship.

Rockola might be the one to end a run of frustrating places for Barbury, and, assessing her chance, Alan said:”I think stepping up in trip might suit her as she relaxes in her races so should see it out well.

“Granted, Rockola was a fortuitous winner over two and a half miles of the course last month as the clear leader unseated at the last flight, but she was staying on up the straight and, though a relatively small mare, she is progressing and is only 3lb higher for her hat-trick bid.

Tomorrow Alan thinks the drying ground will help Wincanton third I’d Go Maniac in the maiden hurdle at Kempton, while stamina is obviously the strong suit of Betterforeveryone, so the three miles and five furlongs marathon trip in the North Wales National at Bangor will be right up his street.

Alan reckons the more the ground dries up before Saturday the better chance of Favour And Fortune in the big one. He said:”He showed us that there was a big handicap in him when winning the Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr last April, and this has been the target since the setback which delayed his start to the season.

“The weather can play havoc with plans, so I was relieved that we were able to get a race into Favour And Fortune at Ascot before Christmas, and it was a very encouraging comeback. He was able to work on the grass last Saturday and school on Monday, so he is in very good form and off a mark just 2lb higher than it was at Ayr I’m hoping for a big run.”

For once there is no Jonbon standing in the way of Edwardstone as he attempts to repeat last year’s victory in the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury, but it might be even tougher as Nicky Henderson runs Jonbon’s highly-regarded young stablemate Sir Gino, whom Edwardstone has to give 5lb.

Alan added:”Edwardstone is in good order and you cannot fault his form this season, but, while his enthusiasm is still as strong as ever even though he is now an 11-year-old, we know he faces a big task.”

Menaggio is also in action at Newbury, his target being the novices limited handicap chase. Alan is keen to get him out again aft.er he broke a blood vessel last time, but he has had treatment and looked in good order when schooling on Monday.

Our other Newbury runner on Saturday is our Irish acquisition Baron Noir in the Listed bumper, and he is a horse who Alan likes a lot. He said;”This has been his target for some time, and, though he is stepping into black type company for the first time, he won comfortably at Plumpton in December on his first start for me.

“Furthermore, that form looks pretty good as the runner-up has won twice since, one being a Listed  race at Market Rasen, so this should give us an idea which route we should take with Baron Noir in the spring, maybe Aintree or the Punchestown Festival if he runs well here.”

Alan is always keen to support courses who put up decent prize money, and he quickly nominated Midnight Rumble for the £17,000 juvenile maiden hurdle.

He added;”Being a maiden, we are less likely to bump into a hot one, and Midnight Rumble showed the benefit of his first run over hurdles at Kempton when finishing second at Warwick, where his jumping was much sharper and he also travelled well through the race. He’ll also improve again for that.”

Sharp Glance, who missed Market Rasen on Tuesday because of a slight bruise, has recovered in time to run in the bumper at Warwick, while we have just the one Flat runner on Saturday, Mount Olympus in the mile and a half handicap at Wolverhampton.

He had been off nine months before his comeback run at Dunstall Park over Christmas so was entitled to tire late on. That race will have brought him on and dropping 2lb is also a plus.