With very little racing expected to take place this week, it’s quite ironic that we have plenty of entries and many horses waiting in the wings for when the weather gods eventually look fondly upon us!
Smiling Getaway was declared to run at Ludlow today but, as you all know, that was abandoned early this morning so we may have to head to Newbury on the 15th where there’s a Listed Mares’ Chase over just short of three miles.
Dancing In Brazil has switched to Nigel Twiston-Davies’ yard and the son of Blue Bresil could debut for his new stable on the same card in the Handicap Hurdle.
Speaking of horses under the care of Twiston-Davies, we are looking forward to Miss Denver who is ready to run and has been given an entry at Wetherby on Saturday. She’s a James and Jean Potter Ltd homebred out of Miss Denman, whose mother, Polly Puttens, is the dam of the mighty Denman and Grade One winner Silverburn. Obviously the weather will play its part as to if/where she goes but she’s one to look out for.
We also have a lovely mare by Blue Bresil ex Saint Goustan, who has been named Miss Macaroni, and is also ready to make her debut for Ben Pauling as soon as the weather turns for the better. Her trainer has been very complimentary about her work at home, and she is another homebred to keep an eye on.
Moving on to the elders, and we were absolutely delighted with Egbert who relished every yard of the trip to score in the prestigious Tommy Whittle Chase at Haydock over Christmas. He looked an unlikely winner down the back straight, but Gavin Sheehan wasn’t having any of it and pushed and shoved the son of Yorton Sire Pether’s Moon for almost a mile and our gutsy homebred responded to his urgings.
He was given a very short Christmas break after that but Alan King has now started to increase his workload and a crack at the valuable Eider Chase at Newcastle on February 22nd is the next big aim.
Funnily enough, Our Power could also be in action on the same day, but down at Kempton, as Sam Thomas is eyeing another crack at the Coral Trophy, a race he won in 2023. Both his efforts this term have been excellent, and he was extremely unlucky to bump into a rejuvenated Chantry House at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day. He lost nothing in defeat, though, and has the heart of a lion! His jumping was exemplary, and Dylan Johnston said after the race that next time he’ll foot the bill to ride him! 😉
The Scottish Grand National is, however, the end of season target where, with a bit of luck, the ground should be good and, if everything goes well, he’d have a great chance!
Calimystic is another ready to run but, again, ground is going to be key, and Nicky Henderson is mindful of finding the best opportunity for the son of Califet who put up a fantastic performance to finish a close second in a bumper on his debut at Taunton. He’s more than likely going to go straight over hurdles.
Anyway, that’s enough for the time being, I’m off to look out the window to check what the weather is doing, after all, there’s not much else we can do at present 😔 ☔️
