OH MY GOSHEN
Though just a five year old, Goshen’s career has already had its fair share of drama. Jamie Moore’s desperately unfortunate unseat at Cheltenham, with the Triumph at his mercy, will not easily be forgotten, while two comeback runs on the flat last summer were underwhelming at best. When he trailed in last in the International Hurdle, many were writing him off as a one-season wonder. Fast-forward two months and with a fibrillating heart issue now seemingly behind him, the son of Authorized was hugely impressive in dismissing his five rivals in the Kingwell at Wincanton and is now as short as 4-1 for the Champion for trainer Gary Moore and owner Steve Packham.
CYRNAME HOPES ARE DASHED
When he’s good, he’s very, very good, but when he’s bad, he’s horrid. That seemed to be the general view of the racing pundits on Saturday, but there’s not many top-class chasers that ‘spit the dummy out’ at halfway and Nicholls reported afterwards that the son of Nickname had a breathing issue, which is considerably more plausible. He’ll be back, but it will be next season.
Eight years on from Melodic Rendevous’ Tolworth Hurdle win, Jeremy Scott is back in the big time with the hugely progressive Dashel Drasher, who was winning a Graded race for the first time, as was his jockey Matt Griffiths. The eight-year-old Dashel Drasher is another feather in the cap of Batsford Stud‘s Passing Glance, the dual-purpose sire who has now produced top-level winners under both codes.
BRR! IT’S COLD IN HERE!
Henderson: 3P426P32505040
Tizzard: 40455P40560
That’s the weekend form for two of the NH powerhouses. Both will be hoping the better weather in the coming week brings about some sunnier times on the track, with just three weeks to go before the Festival.
BRYONY DOES IT AGAIN
It was a disappointing weekend for the Nicholls big guns Clan Des Obeaux and Cyrname, but Bryony Frost ensured the Denman Chase went to Ditcheat for a tenth time since its inception (as the Aon Chase back in 2000) with a fine front-running ride on Secret Investor.
SORE-ING TO GLORY
While the Jonjo O’Neill-trained Soaring Glory gave the master of Jackdaws Castle a second Betfair Hurdle, 11 years on from his win in the race with Get Me Out Of Here, Hugh Morgan produced an astonishing effort in the saddle to score on Young Dev at Naas…despite riding without any irons from the first fence onwards. An exceptional effort, though no doubt he will be feeling the after-effects this morning.
