During elections, said H.L. Mencken, all the parties rush around the country insisting that the others are unfit to govern — and in the end they are all proved right. I don’t bet on politics because as a part-time political commentator I don’t want to be accused of letting wagers colour my judgment, but I did advise my friends last autumn to back a hung Parliament when you could still get 4–1 against. The Twelve to Follow over the jumps I named then have not stood the test of time quite so well.
Two never made it to the track, but five managed to win and we had half a dozen seconds. The most enjoyable victory was the 14–1 success of the Evan Williams-trained Pheidippides at Kempton. He has undoubted class and will be worth watching over fences next season.
Philip Hobbs’s hurdlers Clova Island and Quinz both obliged, at 6–1 and 9–4 respectively. Lucy Wadham’s El Dancer had a busy season, including two seconds, but finally did the trick at 5–2. So did Charlie Mann’s promising bumper Rebel Rebellion, but the bookies were not generous in his case. A winner is a winner but at 1–8 I wasn’t buying many drinks to celebrate. All in all we had 36 runs and with a tenner to win each time ended up just under £60 the poorer.
‘We all know there’s no such thing as an unmitigated disaster, so just get out there and mitigate,’ said a defeated US senator. I will attempt to mitigate with a lively Twelve for the Flat, taking it as a good omen that No Hubris, from last year’s team, scored last Friday at 3–1 at Sandown and another, Presvis, at 4–1, won earlier this year in Dubai.
You can rely on Dandy Nicholls running his sprinters regularly, the snag being that he often hurls several into the same race, but let’s start with his aptly named Xilerator. Three-year-old sprinters can be hard to win with but my bible in these matters, Timeform’s Racehorses of 2009 (available from Portway Press, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX1 1XF for £75), says he will improve.
Another speedster is Stan Moore’s Total Gallery, winner of the Prix de l’Abbaye last autumn. Coming from a shrewd but not particularly fashionable yard, he will be at a fair price for big races. My third sprinter is William Haggas’s Triple Aspect, now aged four, who impressed when beating Jargelle at Sandown last year even though his trainer described him as going to the post ‘like a goat’.
Michael Jarvis, after a heart operation last year, has started this season in good form. So have his horses, and for the prestige races I like his seven-year-old Pressing. Racehorses quotes owner Gary Tanaka as saying, ‘I am willing to forego the 100,000–1 chance of having the Kentucky or Epsom Derby winner in favour of buying European horses at the end of their three-year-old season when owners are looking to sell because they feel there aren’t the opportunities for older horses.’ Since his purchase, Pressing has won Mr Tanaka more than £1 million and will be aimed again at Turkey’s Topkapi Trophy. Not fully wound up, Pressing ran a good second at Sandown last Saturday.
After good reports from Middleham, my ante-post each-way for the 2000 Guineas (placed before I saw Elusive Pimpernel’s impressive run at Newmarket) is on Mark Johnston’s Awzaan. Whether he proves to be a miler or sprinter, Awzaan will win races. Marcus Tregoning, after an annus horribilis last year, is banging out the winners this year and on the basis of their Newbury runs I am including his progressive Rasmy and Latansaa.
We will all miss the late Terry Mills on the racecourse this year, but his son Robert says he has some nice horses to carry on his father’s quest. I was impressed with the stayer Buxted at Newbury, his first run on turf after three victories on the all-weather.
Finally, two handicappers who will surely pay their way this season are John Gosden’s Fallen Idol, who won at Sandown last Friday, and the third in that race, the Denis Coakley-trained Huygens, who proved at Kempton earlier that he has a nice turn of foot.
We need one, I guess, from the Godolphin battalions and I will go for Whispering Gallery, whom the Boys in Blue acquired from Mark Johnston. And a two-year-old to win a couple of races? Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Klammer seems to have learnt the job as well as any.
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