Unfortunately, we had to declare Gidleigh Park as a non-runner at Ascot today. We declared to run when it was good-to-soft ground, but it’s dried out well and frustratingly we’ll have to wait for the ground to be on the softer side for his chasing debut.
We have the option to go to Kempton on Monday in a beginners’ chase, so we’ll be looking at that. The rain looks due to come over the weekend, so we’ll see how the forecast is and go from there. Sir Gino looks targeted at the race, and it’d be less than ideal having to give him his four-year-old weight allowance on chase debut, but we’re a little short of alternative options, so it may just be the case that we have to take him on.
We also run Gin Coco on Friday’s Ascot card (14:40) in the race he won last year. He’s two pounds higher in the handicap than he was 12 months ago, and there look to be a couple more unexposed types in there this year too. Despite that, I think he’s in great form after his strong effort on reappearance at Chepstow. He was only narrowly beaten that day, and we know that this Ascot track and trip will be up his street, so we expect him to give a very good account of himself.
We kick off Saturday with Ma Belle Noire at Ascot (12:55) who’s missed a couple of engagements recently on account of the ground. We expect Saturday’s going to be better suited to her, especially as her run is earlier on the card. We think she ought to have a more attractive racing weight, and we think she’s off a competitive mark. She’s obviously back over hurdles after one start over fences, but we see this as a nice beginning for her winter campaign.
Beat The Bat is an interesting runner of ours later up at Haydock (13:15). It was frustrating that his season got cut short last year, but he’s made a full recovery and we’re really looking forward to getting his campaign underway. We had the chance to go to Cheltenham last weekend, but this race is worth double the prize money, so this was the better option to go for. His form is obviously eye-catching having been beaten two-and-three-quarter lengths by Dysart Enos giving her seven pounds back in December 2023, who was a good third in the Greatwood last weekend. He’s in great form at home, and we’re hoping he can be a progressive second-season hurdler.
Onto Sunday and we start with Dubrovnik Harry at Exeter (13:40). We’ve made no secret of his issues, but we think we’re on top of them now and we’ve always seen him as a chaser. He was a fine third in the EBF Final at Sandown a couple of years ago and that’s a race renowned for producing future chaser. We’re dropping in trip from when he was last seen, but we think that’ll be fine for him and hope he’ll soon begin to deliver to on the promise he’s shown.
Altobelli is a horse with plenty of talent and takes his chance at Exeter too (14:15) after having to wait for conditions to ease to get him out. He ran in some valuable races last year but after having been off for a while, we wanted to start him off in some calmer waters. He’s run well at the track before, actually beating Ginny’s Destiny on debut, and I think there’s more to come with him over smaller obstacles before we think about chasing with him. Hopefully Sunday can be a nice starting point for him before we step back up in grade next time.
Stable Debrief
We were thrilled that Might I got back to winning ways at Bangor last week. He’s obviously a horse with loads of ability who has frustrated us on a number of occasions. It was a fine ride from Bryan (Carver) to almost kid Might I into winning, and we’re hopeful that the win will give him confidence for further successes. We’ve no immediate plans for him, but I’d say he’ll be about again in early December over two-and-a-half to three miles.
Ask Me Early looked to be running a huge race on that card too before making a mistake at four out where he might’ve just jumped one of the shadows caused by the low sun. After that, Bryan said he took a good blow, and he came home fine. I think that ought to keep him well on track for the Veterans’ Final at Sandown in January, and I’d say he’ll run again ahead of that – perhaps in early December.
Boothill ran an absolute stormer behind Jonbon in the Shloer. Jumping the last, I thought for just a minute that we might win, but we were still delighted to finish second. It was a career best performance, and we were over the moon, and it showed us that he’s definitely worthy of a place in all the top two-mile chases this season. Jonbon will probably improve for that win, so he’ll be hard to beat in the Tingle Creek, but he’s got to turn up and run his race, and that’s what we’ll be hoping to do.
Things clearly didn’t go to plan for In Excelsis Deo in the Saturday feature. First and foremost, it was fantastic that Bryan and the horse were unharmed in the mishap. Analysing the race itself, it’s just such a pity his unseat happened where it did, as I’d say he’s rarely been in such a good position in a race of that quality before. We know he loves the Cheltenam hill, so we’ll ready him for the December Gold Cup and all being well he’ll be there at the finish to run another big race.
We were pleased with Hymac and his run on Sunday. He showed real grit and determination to get third and showed his liking for Cheltenham once again. It was a really brave performance, and he does seem to be feeling it somewhat afterwards, so we’ll let him freshen up a bit before thinking about future targets.
Fingers crossed on a big few days coming up for the yard and enjoy your weekends,
Harry