APRIL 2011 HORSES

BAN UISCE     (Neil Mulholland)

6 year old bay gelding     (Lahib – Scolboa Gold)     0071413-13048P22

After a quiet couple of early races, Ban Uisce quickly made a mark once he was qualified for handicaps. The first success came in a woeful sort of race (a small field and fancied horses disappointing to a huge degree) but the horse did not know that and it proved to the spur to a few runs of consistent productivity, as long as he met the right conditions. The first was the track. On a sharp course he is 14131042. On others he is 00738P2. Ban Uisce, whose name will tempt wordplayers as it is an anagram of Sea Biscuit if you add ‘it’ and drop the n,* made his chase debut at Plumpton, and was a fair second, with room for improvement, and then went on to finish runner-up again in a small field for a far less suitable event at Wincanton. Chases on soft ground are his future.

An obscure far eastern word game, soon to be seen in the daily papers, contrives a Sean Bean connection instead.

Handicap chases on a sharp track, on soft or heavy

Due to lack of pictures, Ban Uisce (green and white silks) gets in on this page, with an especially uninformative shot of the early stages of his chase debut

DASHING DOC     (Evan Williams)

4 year old chesnut gelding     (Dr Fong - Dashiba)      2

A horse rated 74 on the flat and with wins from 1m to 1m 2f would normally be an appealing prospect for many looking for a hurdler and also harbouring an irrational desire to win overpopulated two mile races. As a bonus it was only last August that he posted the most recent win, so in Dashing Doc there was a candidate for the job sitting there radiating appeal. So why did he go off at a no-hoper price for his hurdle debut? The oppo was headed by a flat convert rated 8 pounds higher (but also conceding plenty of weight having already won a race), and when sold from David Elsworth team, he fetched only £6,500 - which translates in English to "good luck in sellers." The negative vibe may have come from the fact that Dashing Doc only really dashed on fairly quick ground, and perhaps there was a feeling that what he encountered on the hurdles debut might not have adequate bounce in it. The performance defied the market, and showed him a fair prospect for the future - especially on fast going in the late summer.

Handicap hurdles up to 2m 1f on good to firm

KADOUCHSKI     (John Berry)

7 year old bay gelding     (Ski Chief – Douchka)     76/P611387/04-8512

Kadouchski made hard work of his flat career, pinching one win on the all-weather from plenty of tries, at the fifteenth attempt. Like many a grand creature, he has been a revelation as a jumper, gaining three wins in from the same number of races. He opened his hurdling tally in mere selling company, but after winning at that level, he has never returned to it, nor especially looked as if he need to. Applying a process of elimination to what suits, we can scrap a couple of left-handed runs (would have surely had more if there were other reasons for abject failure), and we can also cease to concern ourselves with runs on good or faster ground. This leaves a career record of 1138048512, and the recent eighth and fifth implied an inability to handle sharp tracks. From the remaining eight races, a preference for two mile races shows, but that is the sort of thing that can change with time, and his recent second at Towcester did not raise stamina doubts. And he might give chasing a try, where the slower pace can allow horses to last out their races over a touch further.

Hurdles/chases on right handed tracks, not on sharp, on good to soft, soft or heavy

LAJIDAAL     (Gary Moore)

4 year old bay colt     (Dynaformer – Tayibah)     095

Nobody would be getting overly excited about the bare form shown so far by Lajidaal, but what he has done is building up to a chance to show something a bit more once in handicaps. This is based on the fact that he won a mile and a half flat maiden on good to firm, and he is creeping upwards in his performance profile as a hurdler. Debuting on good to soft proved a dead loss, and his next run was on good. This was a better effort than the bare result, in a potentially half-decent race, as Lajidaal  tried to compete and as not given an excessively hard time once failure was assured. The most recent run was at Plumpton on good to firm, in a race won by a stable mate. It can be argued that the tactics employed were not 100% conducive to making the frame, but he saw the race out well, and is one to look for stepped up in trip. On what he has done so far, a very, very friendly rating of 90 seems about right – it will be interesting to see what Lajidaal actually gets.

Handicap hurdles, over 2m 2f to 2m 5f, on good or good to firm, rated up to 110  

A playful and dribbly Lajidaal before a second place at Fontwell

MORE EQUITY     (Dianne Sayer)

9 year old bay mare     (Classic Cliché – Sillymore)     09/576/655130/11P337837-3632238462

It is getting on for two years since More Equity actually won a race, and as that period has included 18 races, she has been given every chance to put that right. Or has she? Eleven of those runs have been in chases, and although she has been second or third in right of them, her commitment to the concept of bigger fences has never been totally convincing - lessening the cash equity of her supporters being a core objective. One of her biggest problems in that sphere is that as soon as the pace livens up, her jumping becomes slow and a general hindrance to progress (fiscal and physical). The last three runs have seen More Equity switch back to hurdles and go over three miles plus, the latest being a one length loss (in a dodgy looking race) at Huntingdon. Despite the limited skills of those behind, they were no threat and she shapes as if one of these long distance hurdles, or more, could come her way.

Handicap hurdles over 3 miles or more, on good or good to firm, carrying up to 11 stone

SCRUM V     (John Davies)

7 year old bay gelding     (Sonus – Miss The Post)     247/0857-2193

Only a inspired lunatic would name a programme about rugby using Roman numerals when the television station that shows it is in a principality that has too few vowels to go round as it is. And for a while in his career it did seem that entertaining financial support for the horse Scrum V would be the work of a lunatic that is not quite inspired and more likely ill-qualified to operate with money. But a few runs ago, it began to come right for the horse, and what has emerged is a confirmation that he needs an undulating course to be at his best – and getting qualified for handicaps has helped. Something hinted at when he debuted with a second to Alfie Sherrin in a Chepstow bumper. Scrum V possibly has not gone on from that race as well as the winner, but once he has outstayed his capabilities in hurdle races, then chases are an option.

Handicap hurdles/handicap chases on an undulating track