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ABERDEEN
PARK
(David Evans)
9 year
old grey mare
(Environment Friend – Michelee)
6/16P/11985/P/3110PP-4
In this
instance, what we are seeking is a turn around in fortune, but it is
entirely possible as Aberdeen Park has had her last three jumps runs in
chases and the message that she has given, loud and clear, is that she
does not care a jot for that job. Considering her hurdles career, she
won her second attempt, a seller at Towcester, but after that she needed
a sharp track to excel, picking up four non-sellers. Her record on those
venues is 11511, and even when she did get turned over, it was by a mere
five lengths. It is not as if she is too old to cut the hurdles mustard,
and she has not been disastrous, in her level, on the flat, so what we
can watch from a far is fascinating struggle to see who is the most
stubborn – the mare or her trainer.
Hurdles
on a sharp track, over 2m 4f or more
DOUBLE
DEFAULT
(Martin Todhunter)
10 year
old chesnut gelding
(Beneficial – Over The Risc)
2211/U3/P2/-0FP3232
It is
taking a long time, but Double Default is gradually working his way
around to actually adding a chase win to the pair of hurdles he nabbed
back in 2007. Normally it is a sign of staying well clear when a horse
is nearing four years without a win, but as the form figures above show,
he has not been over imbued with chances to put that right. And when he
has, Double Default has often run adequately in defeat. What is
especially useful of late is that his chase career is ceasing to be an
utter shambles, a disruption that was probably inevitable from the
moment that his tack broke whilst jumping the first fence on his chase
debut. It produced an unseated, and worse, an omen that he struggled to
shake off. Time permitting, Julian Cope would probably write a song
about Double Default knowing and accepting his destiny, whilst standing on a menhir. Now organisation and balance is
being restored, Double Default is one to track on the mud at about two
and a half miles.
Chases
on soft or heavy, over 2m 3f to 2m 6f
LOST
TWO STARS
(Colin Tizzard)
6 year
old grey mare
(Fourstars Allstar – Beagan Rose)
4-7443
This
was an exciting mare to come across - it always is when spotting a
novice hurdler with unexceptional form numbers by the name, but much
more promise behind the scenes, when the races are looked at in detail.
She was beaten five lengths in a sixteen strong field on her debut, and
only six when further down the places next time - although it was one of
the dreaded, career-damning, Lingfield all-weather jobs. Lost Two Stars
then went hurdling and started a love of fourth place at Taunton. On her
next run she was a length behind a 105-rated horse in third, so the
handicapper did really give her a two pound present with a rating of
102. So with that mark in place, it was a slight surprise that she
stayed in non-handicap novice races. After trying to make the running in
deep ground at Fontwell, which failed as much due to bad jumping as
anything else, Lost Two Stars gained her best finishing position, but
failed to run up to that existing mark. She ought to be able to do
better in handicap hurdles.
Handicap
hurdles over 2m 4f or more, on good to soft or good, rated up to 110 -
monitor a potential right handed preference

Lost
Two Stars (far side) inadvertently leaves taking off a bit too late at
Fontwell, but after adjusting accordingly this time, she repeatedly made
the same error
ROOFTOP
RAINBOW
(Linda Blackford)
7 year
old bay gelding
(Lord Americo – Rulleena)
544
There
is more to the Rooftop Rainbow story than the recent rules form, as he
had four goes in pointing in Ireland, and put a late fall on debut
behind him to pick up a win, a second and a third in the rest of his
tries. For three hurdle races in Britain, he has started at prices of
66/1, 40/1 and 33/1 (decimal odds of no concern to him), but each time
has run above market expectation, sadly never in a way to generate
punting profit. Filbert, a horse of high potential, beat him 27 lengths,
the same margin Rooftop Rainbow conceded to the similarly promising
Cantlow last time, where three miles looked to be a little too far. The
merits of his nineteen length fourth between those two runs are a touch
shaky, which may prove to be an advantage when it comes to awarding him
a handicap mark. Perhaps with four point runs to his name, he will be to
switch into chases fairly soon, and inject some colour into life in his
yard, which has been nearly two years without a winner. Rooftop Rainbow
is shaping like the most effective material that they have had to work
with in that time.
Handicap
hurdles or chases, over 2m 4f to 2m 6f, rated up to 105
ROYAL
MACKINTOSH
(Alan Mactaggart)
10 year
old bay gelding
(Sovereign Water – Quick Quote)
0/33P11/6241256/13PP-8V
Up
until four runs ago, everything tended to go swimmingly for Royal
Mackintosh, as he had won a point-to-point and then having to do nothing
more adventurous than keep turning up at Carlisle to ensure that the
triumphs kept ticking over. His overall history at the track is
1121561V. The void race recently is simply one of those things, and even
the two occasions that he failed to make the frame –coinciding with a
peak in his handicap mark – Royal Mackintosh was hardly humiliated. He
is now back down to his last winning rating and there must be every
possibility that he can protect us from the ravages of inclement punting
weather. Sadly, in this case, an unexpected soaking is no opportunity
for a warranty claim.
Races
over 3m or further, on a right handed, easy, undulating track, on good
to soft, soft or heavy
UBI
ACE
(Tim Walford)
5 year
old bay gelding
(First Trump – Faithful Beauty)
23
He was
quite capable flat handicapper, a career he nearly ruined by winning a
maiden, but Ubi Ace also ended up, after missing 2009, with another win
over a mile and a half on good. He last ran on the level at Haydock in
September, coming in second, from a mark of 72. These are, on the whole,
appealing credentials for a hurdler in the making, but ones in which a
bit of ultra-cunning placing will be needed to win a novice hurdle. What
has happened to Ubi Ace is a sort of halfway house that has not achieved
that non-handicapped triumph, but has given clues that it is possible.
After four months without a run, he appeared at Wetherby and was second
of eighteen. That good effort did not appear to have been improved when
third of six at Musselburgh – up to 2m 4f and on soft ground. However,
the winner, Aikman, named after one of the most dull quarterbacks and
television pundits imaginable, looked pretty decent in following up at
Huntingdon in a valuable race, and Ubi Ace was likely foiled by the
going more than race distance when unable to challenge him.
Hurdles
over 2m 3f to 2m 5f on good to soft or good
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