JANUARY 2010 HORSES

BERTIE MAY     (K. Bishop)

8 year old grey gelding     (Terimon - Kalogy)     11/6176/53FPP6-4115

Let's pretend last season did not exist, as it seems that after finishing third over hurdles at Taunton, Bertie May did pretty much that. In his younger days, before the mysterious void, he was quite a promising performer. Two bumper wins, a close sixth in a graded one at Ascot. It was all going swimmingly. Then he went over hurdles and struggled to adapt a little. He won at Exeter, before a couple of stuffings were set aside with a fairly decent fifth in a Newbury handicap. Chasing made things worse, and early fall, a couple of pulled ups. General disarray. Then, in the dying embers of the decade, it began to click. He won a pair of two and a half milers, and put in a solid fifth at Newbury. Oddly, his hurdling stamina does seem to have deserted him a little, whether it is a different training regime or the fewer number of obstacles over two and half miles, it now seems to be his trip.

Handicap chases over 2m 4f to 2m 6f, on an undulating track on good to soft, soft or heavy, rated up to 125

FIFTYFIVE DEGREES     (Miss P. Robson)

9 year old bay gelding     (Presenting - Streets)     P1/9731P-FP3

This horse is well named as 55 is the number of degrees Kelvin at which a typical Surrey council thinks it might be worth gritting the streets. But as the racing has long since been abandoned, what is the point? And abandonment was something Fiftyfive Degrees nearly did with his career. A winner of a maiden hunter chase at Hexham, which even those who love courses hidden over the peak of a mountain will agree, is not the toughest pinnacle of achievement, the horse had a couple of hurdle runs and then showed in chases that he did better than imagined as Hexham is probably not his venue at all. Take a nice galloping, level track, give him plenty of time to see what is going on, and he will come third and then win a novice handicap from a mark of 100. But the undulations of Carlisle, the sharp turns of Kelso, the tearooms of Mars, the hellholes of Uranus, they all completely bamboozled Fiftyfive Degrees. As soon as he was back at Doncaster, there was another decent placed run. There could be more wins on the cards as well.

Handicap chases over 3 miles or more on a galloping, level course 

FRIENDLY KING     (George Baker)

6 year old bay gelding     (King's Best - Asfurah)     21/0313-95P

This horse reminds me of the masked character in the Burger King ads a couple of years ago, a glazed smiling kingly visage that was supposed to be witty and post-ironic, but in fact came across as simply sinister, a probably hid the crazed expression of a serial killer. That is a harsh comparison, as it is not clear whether Friendly King has blood on his hooves, but his rather erratic record suggests it may be only a matter of time for anyone who wants to follow him blindly. Before he brings down western civilisation, let us consider where Friendly King has run badly. Kempton. Leicester. Fontwell (third, but in a race that has proved a stepping stone to failure). Then compare those to his better performances. Exeter (won). Fakenham (won). Warwick (third, but in an OK race). The pattern, showing a love of hilly venues - sneaky characters love the opportunity for concealment in the dips - is obvious. There have been exceptions, such as a second at Stratford and a hammering at Chepstow, but they both say more about the qualities, or not, of the oppo. Friendly King may be off the boil at the moment, but he could begin to simmer at anytime, and the right venue will help.

Handicap hurdles or chases over 2m 4f or more on an undulating track

NAWOW     (M. G. Hazell)

10 year old bay gelding     (Blushing Flame - Fair Test)     105/40/1P6/U277/054-5142319

For a horse who ha struggled to drag his official rating into three figures, Nawow has assembled a surprisingly good strike rate of four wins from twenty two races. And that is mostly due to the fact that his preference is abundantly clear - he has a deep seated resentment of other horses competing against him in races. He won a six runner race on his hurdles debut at Sandown, and since then that sphere was a total waste of his valuable time, as the next smallest turnout that he had to cope with was ten (and probably saw his second best hurdle effort). Over chases the chances of small fields are greater, and for Nawow, it has proved to be as good a breeding ground for success as is a fetid swamp for mosquitoes. He did break the trend first time, but would have lost had the leader not fallen and brought down the second late in the race. Since then he is 53121 when a single figure field turns out, with only the first of those being in anyway rubbish. As he generally avoids very bad going, there is no point setting a ground condition, as should he turn out in the mud, and no real oppo does, Nawow could just fluke it.

Handicap chases or hurdles of nine runners or less

NO PRINCIPLES    (J. S. Smith)

7 year old bay gelding     (Overbury - Selective Rose)     5-1324    

Some may choose to deduce from the numbers that No Principles has been acquiring a gently regressive trend line on a very mountainous graph, but it would be slightly false as he is losing by quite consistent margins and only the number of horses between him and the winner seems to vary much. His debut was a massive bumper drubbing behind Aiteen Thirtythree and Qroktou (see later for an expression of distaste for horses names beginning with Q), but it clearly provided a much needed education as No Principles won a Uttoxeter bumper just a month later. It was not the greatest race in the world, but yards who take their bumpers seriously were out in numbers, so give the horse some credit for prevailing. It did not seem necessarily the case at the time, but his nine lengths loss in the follow up to Another Kate, giving eleven pounds, now looks a really handy effort, and he did beat Quetzal (down with the Qs!) by a small margin. A one length loss on hurdling debut was not a set back and his search for a soft race at Plumpton was probably mistimed as a 125 rated hurdler could not quite win the race - Quick Draw defeated. So far No Principles has only run to a mark of about 110, but he gives a definite impression that he can grow into better. And keep drubbing those pesky Qs.

Handicap hurdles or chases over 2m 4f to 2m 7f on good to soft/soft/heavy, rated up to 125

No Principles is highly excited to set foot upon the hallowed turf (with clay and sand) of Plumpton, about which he had heard so much. Rider Gerard Tumelty has also heard about the place and tucks his wallet away in a safe place!

QUIZWORK     (Graeme P McPherson)

6 year old bay gelding     (Network – Galene De Saisy)     659-73

The French naming conventions mean that we are in the middle of a deluge of horses whose names begin with Q appearing over here, and it is yet to prove a successful letter in the canon of equine glories. If any horse has summed them up so far it is Qrackers, and we, the people, must rise up in defiance of their evil works. One less dark art may come from Quizwork, who is not likely to do a great deal to change that entirely superstitious situation, but he has shown more than enough to suggest that somewhere along the line he can make his own small dent in it. The quiz that is pertinent is where he goes next – his owner and trainer last had a winner in 2005/6 season in a hunter chase, and there is that nagging doubt that his bumpers and hurdles could be no more than an education to a future pointer. But they have been a good one if they are. Beaten less than 20 lengths in bumpers at Wetherby and Chepstow. Disappointing in his next two, but then a ten lengths third to Duke Of Lucca at Newbury, wearing a tongue tire for the first time. The remaining job is to see if the steering problems can be fixed as he seems not overly fussed about which way he hangs, as long as he does – a lazy tailor’s dream?

Handicap hurdles, over 2m 4f or more rated up to 115, wearing a tongue tie