- Monday, 16 January 2012 16:56
- Written by David Pipe
Elsewhere it was a little bit of a frustrating week, with a number of our horses running well without quite getting their heads in front. Shotavodka was narrowly denied by the minimum margin of a nose under a penalty in the bumper at Doncaster on Wednesday – he led throughout and was only headed close home before rallying to force a very tight photograph. It is generally accepted that it is difficult to win a bumper under a penalty and considering that he was conceding 19lbs to the winner, it was probably quite a decent first effort for the stable. I am sure that he will be making his mark over timber before too long.
On Friday Clever Dick was also an agonising runner-up at Huntingdon as events conspired against him in the closing stages. Despite being held up off the strong pace by conditional Conor O’Farrell during the early stages of the race, he made up his ground easily enough but just as the winner kicked for home turning in, our runner was momentarily caught behind beaten horses and was then untidy over the last three hurdles. But for any one of those incidents I think he would probably have bridged the ½ length deficit to winner Hohlethelonely. It was disappointing for all concerned to be beaten, but sadly those are the perils of riding a “hold-up” horse and on another day things could just as easily have fallen into place for him.
I thought that Dream Esteem ran a promising race on her return back from an absence of some 300 days in the handicap hurdle at Kempton on Saturday. She was very fresh from her break and was much keener than usual, pulling her way into a clear lead early on. Even so, Tom Scu gave her a canny ride to keep a bit up his sleeve and she was only denied on the run-in to be beaten less than a length.
The trouble is when the horses do run well without winning, you get no respite from the handicapper and I envisage the likes of both Clever Dick and Dream Esteem taking a hike up the ratings. In Dream Esteem’s case, she has never won a handicap and is already some 8lbs higher than her opening hurdle mark with the likelihood of more to come. All of us trainers are in the same boat, and I am sure that many will share my frustration that they are quick enough to go up in the ratings, but much slower to come back down!
Only a week after highlighting the ongoing problems with the ridiculous new whip regulations (illustrated by Timmy Murphy’s fine but “illegal” ride aboard Tamarinbleu), the whole furore has raised it’s head again with further high profile cases making the headlines. On the flat Robert Winston received a 22 day ban for a tremendous ride on the all-weather (but was banned for using his stick to correct his mount and avoiding an accident after he had used his allocation of “legal” strikes), while over hurdles amateur rider Mr Robert Cooper was banned for an incredible 52 days for his ride aboard Elton Fox, and Will Kennedy was banned after riding Swincombe Flame to a hard fought and close victory in the feature Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton on Saturday.
It was interesting that Barry Geraghty was bemoaning not being able to hit 1/5 favourite Problema Tic once more at Huntingdon on Friday – the jockey reckoned that with one more strike of the whip, he would have won. The BHA are walking a very thin line at the moment, having to police non-triers, while also penalising those that try too hard…it will certainly be interesting to see the outcome of the meeting between the BHA and members of the Professional Jockey’s Association on Friday in a bid to try to resolve the ongoing problems - as it stands this "one size fits all" policy is not working and greater discretion is required.
We made entries for the Gold Cup, Ryanair Chase and Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival last week. As anticipated, we entered Grands Crus for the Gold Cup, while we also made an entry for Grand National hopeful Junior. In the Ryanair, we entered Paddy Power Gold Cup hero Great Endeavour, along with I’msingingtheblues and I’m So Lucky, while the latter pair were also entered in the Champion Chase along with Dan Breen.
This week, we will be making entries for the Champion Hurdle and World Hurdle and you will be able to find out more about these by visiting Chester’s Daily Chat or by reading next week’s update.
