Fontwell 10/06/10

The main eye-catcher of the day was Tim Vaughan’s spectacular run at the top of the hot trainers list. Racking up 12 wins from his last 25 runners is a real rarity, but nobody sustains those sort of stats for long when the racing is seriously contested – so would we see the two runners tonight get turned over? Quo Video had a solid favourite’s chance in the novice hurdle on form pre-dating the recent splurge, but Patrixbourne was returning from a year off, had a change of headgear and was debuting for the yard in the last race – all interesting up until he became a non-runner.

Going: Good (there were Good to Firm places, which were ditched after the first race)

Race 1: Bet365.com Beginners Chase [2m 2f]

1: Nintytwo Team     2: Kanad     3: I Need A hero

Winner owned: Hurl’n’Ball Syndicate, trained: Paul John Gilligan, ridden: Andrew Lynch

There were several in this who were potentially interesting migrants to chasing, at various levels of talent. Nintytwo Team won pretty easily in the end, but one or two indifferent jumps, even with the race in the bag, showed why his only previous chase (in Ireland) ended in a fall, and suggested that either outcome could happen again. I Need A Hero was a bit down the pecking order of these as a hurdler, which did not stop him giving the winner a race, only to be deprived of an earned second by Kanad, a proven non-chaser who has hardly been thrilling spectators with his recent runs in selling hurdles. The favourite was slightly surprisingly Wade Farm Billy, who had been last of three on his chasing bow to a pair of superior hurdlers. He led, often jumping right but losing little as the rest tended to follow him, until the pressure from the saddle began a long way out, and he was eased right down from the second last. A step backwards – does he deserve another chance?

Race 2: Casino At Bet365 Novice Handicap Hurdle [2m 2.5f]

1: Play A Cord     2: Appointment     3: Nobby Kivambo

Winner owned: Neil Mulholland Racing Club, trained: Neil Mulholland, ridden: Mark Quinlan

After a couple of wayward efforts, Play A Cord kept her eye on the ball for this one, and although ridden out to the line, won by four and a half lengths with less cause for alarm, as Appointment, the early leader, rallied from having been deposed to nick back second place. For a 0-95 novice handicap, a turn out of seven is unusually low, and the four that never got involved will struggle to find a more promising opening.

Stablemates Nobby Kivambo (3) and Princess Soraya (6) show how they contribute to their own downfall

Race 3: Bet365 Handicap Chase [2m 2f]

1: Bankstair     2: Folie A Deux     3: Misamon

Winner owned: Hugh Doubtfire, trained: Nigel Twiston-Davies, ridden: Paddy Brennan

After beating a couple of characters of ill-repute on debut, and not in especially impressive style, Bankstair rose to this greater challenge (at least numerically) despite a rush of money for Misamon – who looked really well in the paddock. With Folie A Deux setting a fierce pace up front, the race turned into a different sort of twosome from a long way out, Bankstair joining the leader two out, making a mistake there, then quickly recovering to go a couple of lengths up, extending that a great deal on the run-in. Misamon won the peripheral struggle for third.

Folie A Deux heads off into the final circuit, chased by Weisenfurst, No Greater Love (6), Khazar (hoops, white cap), Misamon (7) and Space Cowboy. There was a great deal of white flag waving over their collective horizons.

Race 4: Poker At Bet365 Novice Hurdle [2m 4f]

1: Quo Video     2: Synthe Davis     3: Forest Rhythm

Winner owned: Folly Road Racing Partners, trained: Tim Vaughan, ridden: Richard Johnson

This proved to be the race of the evening, with the margin being announced as a neck, which appeared generous to the winner. The first two were head to head coming into the straight, and a better jump two out gave Quo Video a slight edge. Synthe Davis was eating into that lead, millimetre by millimetre, and then a final surge in the last few yards nearly pinched it. Quo Video had been more impressive previously, winning a handicap (from a mark of 109) on good to firm, and it has to be considered that the loss of those fast places counted against him.

Race 5: Bet365.com Handicap Chase [3m 2.5f]

1: Cold Mountain     2: Hoof It Harry     3: Swordsman

Winner owned: Woodford Valley Racing, trained: Seamus Mullins, ridden: Jimmy Derham

However it is looked at, there was an element of upset about this. Cold Mountain usually needs plenty of driving during the race (travelled very comfortably throughout today), makes plenty of mistakes (none today, and he has never actually fallen or unseated) and was only really proven up to half a mile less than this was run over – the extra fences hardly expected to be a plus for him. But a comfortable win ensued boosting his modest tally to 4 from 51 (although 2 of 11 in chases reads better). Will it be the norm, or the positive stuff in brackets for his next couple of runs? Hoof It Harry won over the Bank Holiday here very, very easily in a weak race, and although he plugged away, the winner clearly had his number with a fair way still to go. Swordsman jumped poorly and had reminders as early as the first fence, but still managed to take third with something to spare, which is not good news for those behind him – a good effort from Colin Bolger on board. The leader for the first two miles was Morestead, who dropped away quickly, only to inherit fourth as others gave up. More evidence that the form is lacking in merit beyond the first pair.

Jimmy Derham tries to explain to Richard Johnson how this result came about. Hoof If Harry is keen to see that a full defence of his defeat is recorded for posterity but Cold Mountain is certain that the bare result tells the full tale.

Race 6: Bet365 Handicap Hurdle [2m 6.5f]

1: King Raven     2: Colonial Jim     3: Spider Boy

Winner owned: JJ King, trained: Mark Rimell, ridden: Tom Scudamore

The question in this was whether Cannon Fire (motto: hurdles very good, chases very bad) would find three runs in a week too much, even if inspired by the joy of triumph in the previous two. What was not expected was that he would fall as in 63 races that had happened only once – back in 2005 – and he had pulled up just twice in his career. He had just led, cruising along smoothly at the time, and that left the prize amongst horses either running over too far, over too short or in such bad form that any form of historical evaluation was worthless. At the time of the incident, King Raven, close second over much further this year, and Colonial Jim were left well clear of Spider Boy, chugging along ahead of struggling rivals. The proven stamina of King Raven won out against his win aversion, but when a horse has enough to win by 36 lengths it would need a spectacular bout of bad temper to throw the race away. Colonial Jim had the first time blinkers on and perhaps he did too much early in the race, as he tied up badly over a distance that should have suited.

Plus Points

Diaco (race 1): A decent fifth of twenty-two on debut at Punchestown in November 2008, over hurdles and a bit further, he was a bit green when asked for effort, but overall did not shape too badly (appeared plenty fit enough).

I Need A Hero (race 1): Won a duff maiden hurdle over the same trip here, and shaped promisingly on this chasing debut – he did have some Irish pointing experience, but that is sometimes a help, sometimes a hindrance.

Appointment (race 2): A bit more composed in front than has sometimes been the case, she battled back quite well in the straight after dropping to third and seeming done for. Her yard is hovering around the 50 mark as a losing streak, and she seems capable of picking up a win when the team is in better overall form.

Synthe Davis (race 4): Under achieved a little for Nicky Henderson, notably in novice hurdles against oppo rated below her, and as soon as she did manage a win was out on her ear, for a relatively paltry £20,000. Undaunted by such rejection, she ran well here, and in a tight finish her attitude did not appear at all dubious.

Hoof It Harry (race 5): Might have salvaged back a few pounds of his imminent weights rise. His course win was at 2m 6f, and although placed twice over a furlong less, they came at genteel Wincanton, so watch for a drop back in distance.

Triggernometry (race 5): Was in rear and struggling from an early stage, but as he only seems happy when running in Somerset, this form can be safely ignored. Horsebox rides do not seem to agree with him.

Colonial Jim (race 6): Now has a track record of 122P2, so Fontwell clearly suits. Easier ground would be preferable, and the headgear needs to gee him up without becoming too excited.

Down Arrows

Hibiki (race 1): Won a handicap hurdle off 123 at Ascot, but struggled once rated in the 130s. This was his chase debut, and he did OK for a lap, before dropping out and beginning to get sloppy in his jumping. The ominous thing was that the struggling started on a long run between fences so cannot be simply a jumping issue.

Nobby Kivambo (race 2): Well backed and well beaten in a bigger field last week, the money came for him again, and went astray again. He did look a serious threat approaching the second last, only for the response to pressure to register 1 on equine competitiveness equivalent of the Beaufort Scale.

Princess Soraya (race 2): Got handicapped in three races, two of higher standard, one of a much higher standard, and was potentially interesting in this on a derisory mark. However, she was a bit of a troublemaker on the flat, and did not respond positively to this drop in grade, pulling up on the far side.

Khazar (race 3): Came from nowhere to win a low grade race, and it was back to normal midfield obscurity on this occasion.

Nesnaas (race 3): Used to be a force going right-handed and a farce left-handed, but these days he does not seem interested in anything much.

Mandalay Bay (race 3): His recent run was the first under Rules for three and a half years, and he did progress on that to be fourth today. However, a record of 2 wins from 23 British points hardly indicates a greater destiny awaiting him.

Cold Mountain (race 5): Won like a horse at a peak of fitness and wellbeing, but it has to be imagined that the most likely chain of events is for his normal foibles to come to the fore.

Distiller (race 5): A successful hurdler, he has been hugely ineffective as a chaser, but started out on completely the wrong ground. Now he is back on familiar territory, going-wise, there was no progress made.

Knightsbridgelives (race 6): Left Alan King boasting a pinnacle of second in an all-weather bumper, and two runs since have not shown him to have been invigorated by a change of scenery.

UK-Jumping Selections

Siouxme (race 5): Popped round at the back for a mile, made a move into midfield, and then lost the plot going out onto the final lap, where she was under pressure and jumped the first three fences without any conviction. Too bad to be true, and perhaps there was an excuse beyond being not good enough.

Empire:

Spider Bot (race 6): Would probably only have been fourth had Cannon Fire not fallen, and Gemma reported that he was not in the most enthusiastic frame of mind, but making the frame at such an advanced stage of his career is not a terrible effort.