Huntingdon 30/10/11

Going: Good (Good to Firm places)

Race 1: Huntingdon fillies’ Juvenile Hurdle [2m ½f]

1: Hope Point     2: Galloping Queen     3: The Absent Mare

Winner owned: The Ridgeway Partnership, trained: Mark Usher, ridden: Dave Crosse

The betting market took a fancy to two fillies that had won their last flat race - Galloping Queen (making her first start over hurdles) and The Absent Mare (tailed off on her sole hurdle outing, but livelier on the level since then). What that overlooked was that Hope Point had been third on her one hurdle appearance, in a race that had worked out well, and with the relative inexperience of only a single flat run to her name before it. She also had a less likely to win stablemate in this, who made the running while Hope Point strolled along in last. Convenient, huh? She made her play between the last two hurdles, and even after clomping through the final one, she still just outran a determined Galloping Queen. A word of sympathy for the commentator here. In seven sets of colours, five were blue with varied pale patterns, one purple (washed up very bluish) with white and the other turquoise. A paranoid caller may suspect collusion, or call for owners to have an away kit.

Race 2: Join Today At Rewards4Racing.com Novice Chase [2m 4½f]

1: Balzaccio     2: Playing With Fire     3: Flichity

Winner owned: King, Roberts, Flintham & MCL, trained: Alan King, ridden: Robert Thornton

The competitiveness of the race was severely compromised when chase debutant Muldoon's Picnic fell at the seventh - the first mistake he made. After that Balzaccio was able to pop round at his own convenience and land the prize at his leisure. There was a minor scare at halfway, when he pecked on landing and gave Robert Thornton a moment of worry. It appeared unprovoked, and one thing he learnt from being seen off by top novices last season was how to jump. Playing With Fire made a really good stab of it, but just when it seemed that she would destroy her handicap mark, she tied up and was eventually behind Balzaccio by about the distance the current ratings and race weights said she ought to be. A potential problem averted.

Playing With Fire leads Icy Colt over the open ditch, Flichity close behind. Balzaccio still being patient, i.e. out of shot

Race 3: Lewis Eagle’s 21^st Birthday Claiming Hurdle [2m ½f]

1: Folk Tune     2: Pillar Of Hercules     3: Command Marshal

Winner owned: JN Blackburn, trained: John Quinn, ridden: Dean Pratt

There were some tricky old characters lining up here, and that showed as the race staggered to a conclusion. Four horses were in contention approaching the final flight, but the riders on Folk Tune and Pillar Of Hercules were determined not to hit the front too soon so both riders had a tight grip on the head of their horse until a few yards up the run-in. As the relative ratings suggested ought to happen, Folk Tune was the quickest one from final hurdle to post, landing his fifth hurdle of the year - all sellers and claimers. Pillar Of Hercules has not won since 2008, when trained in Ireland. This was one of his better runs since, but took the losing run to 17. Of the two unfortunates being teased by the first two, Command Marshal was just less awkward than Morocchius in getting to the post.

Race 4: Macer Gifford Handicap Chase [2m ½f]

1: The Grey One     2: Guns Of Love     3: Roc De Guye

Winner owned: R Miles & T Stamp, trained: Milton Bradley, ridden: Charlie Wallis

This used to be a much higher grade of race than a lowly 0-95, and possibly a longer trip as well. So really it was a Macer Gifford Chase, rather than the Macer Gifford Chase. In a similar way, The Grey One was successful in this chase, but is not to be considered a successful chaser. He had been mopping up the place prize money in some small field, bottom grade races, and this time it all came right due to the limitations of the oppo. He confirmed a recent superiority over Guns Of Love, helping his cause by jumping right and going across that main danger at the last, when Guns Of Love had given all he could anyway. Rather than say The Grey One forged clear, it was more a case of doddering towards the line less unconvincingly than Guns Of Love. Roc De Guye was hampered when Mr Bachster fell at the second, and his jumping after that exuded a loss of confidence. He hung in with the first two for as long as he could, but that cut-off point proved to be the second last.

Race 5: Join Today At Rewards4Racing.com Novice Hurdle [2m 4½f]

1: Bowntobebad     2: Valley Lad     3: Fintan

Winner owned: G Brown, trained: Jeremy Scott, ridden: Noel Fehily

It was a bit surprising that Bowntobebad started favourite, as although he had won an Irish point and been third in a British bumper, neither race had worked out terribly well, and he had not run for a year. As he was being urged along fervently three out, the note about to be made was "not bad, better for run." But the first pair, who were still in cruise mode turning for home, failed to see out the trip and Bowntobebad was able to rally and win. As he was able to fight back in the style of a fit horse, perhaps he will not come on for the exercise and was simply "dourly unimpressive in disappointing race." Valley Lad had won a dreadful bumper, and then lost one that was only marginally better. This debut over hurdles was a more encouraging. The guide to the merits lies in Fintan. He has run well this summer, after a two year absence, and eventually got a deserved win at Worcester last time. Time will tell, but the overall vibe was that he did not run up to that level here, finishing weakly after an error at the last flight.

Race 6: Racing UK Handicap Hurdle [3m 2f]

1: Tarvini     2: Iris's Flyer     3: Elegant Olive

Winner owned: JP McManus, trained: Jonjo O'Neill, ridden: Maurice Linehan

Of all the horses to see their futures undermined by the new whip regime, Tarvini seemed to be the number one candidate. He needs constant riding along, and even gets complacent about that, so the occasional backhander was pretty much essential in the past. It was the normal tale here, not helped by a manic early pace ensuring that if Tarvini has a comfort zone (outside of his stable), he would not find it today. However, his ten pounds claiming rider kept scrubbing away and it paid dividends as the horses that were near the front early on did inevitably wilt, and Elegant Olive did not get home over the final furlong. From an Olive observation point of view, it was agonising watching as even when it seemed possible that she would reel in Iris's Flyer, it was at least as likely that Tarvini would catch her in turn - beaten a length and never quite convinced that a win would result.

Two laps to go and Fresher Fishing and Absolute Shambles are dragging them along a bit sharply. Tiger Line and Halucha are next. Then Iris's Flyer, Douglas, Foreign King, Elegant Olive, Tarvini and Yabora. Note the lack of advantage gained by being near the front

Race 7: Turf TV Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race [2m ½f]

1: Greenlaw     2: Brandon Thomas     3: Thomas Crapper

Winner owned: Simon & June Cadzow, trained: Oliver Sherwood, ridden: Leighton Aspell

Being such a straight forward course, Huntingdon often turns up some decent bumper races. The only evidence of quality in this one was Turbo Du Ranch's win at Newbury. There had been hints from Watch House and Loose Chips, but for the most part, they were an unknown quantity. The fact that Turbo Du Ranch ran a solid race in fourth speaks well for the trio that beat him. Greenlaw made his move a bit earlier than some, and the stolen march made the difference. Brandon Thomas played his hand far too late, and might have won had the strength of Greenlaw been recognised. Thomas Crapper stepped up on two runs in small fields, and looks to be going the right way.

Plus points

Galloping Queen (race 1): Debuted in a modest level, but showed enough to think a little race could come her way - in the usual Sheena West style: set off in front, jump soundly and challenge the others to cope with the pressure.

Balzaccio (race 2): With a double penalty, he is likely to have too much weight in novice chases, but now that he has regained the winning habit, a rating of 135 is workable in handicaps. He seems the sort to be better as a higher weight against lesser rivals, rather than mug classier horses from a low weight.

Valley Lad (race 5): Boasting bumper form that it was easy to take a dislike to, he stepped up his game on his first look at hurdles. If the handicapper does not take the run of Fintan as up to par, then Valley Lad could reap the benefits in handicaps.

Theredballoon (race 5): Debuting for a new yard, he was far less badly behaved at the start than has been true in the past. Although well beaten after five months, if the new, saintly version of the horse sticks around, he can win races, as the physical talent is there.

Iris's Flyer (race 6): Changed yards a couple of months ago and it has freshened him up a fair bit. On good or faster he should continue to be competitive in these marathon hurdles - the fear being that could manifest itself in places rather than wins.

Greenlaw (race 7): Decent start beating horses with an edge in experience. A sign of better to come.

Brandon Thomas (race 7): Seems to be capable of winning a bumper if things go his way, and should that not pan out, the same applies to hurdling.

Down Arrows

Jolly Roger (race 2): Got off to a good start over hurdles, with a win, albeit against iffy oppo, but two falls since means that he has a rather large hole to extricate himself from.

The Wifes Pet (race 2): Won a small race here on August Bank Holiday, where conditions were ideal for none of the runners. Since then she has run two very regressive races over fences.

Pillar Of Hercules (race 3): Ran a good race under an inexperienced jockey, and whilst it looked a good way to build up to a win, he has run the odd race like this before and not been able to build upon it.

Nesnaas (race 4): Used to be much better than this, but has gone off the rails. A historical preference for going right-handed was even undone by jumping out to the opposite direction. It is hard to see him exploiting a collapsed handicap rating at the moment.

Fresher Fishing (race 6): Came from nowhere in novice company to win a couple of fast ground Exeter handicaps as soon as qualified for a rating. The magic wore off today and after setting off quickly in front, he gave up quickly, and called it a day with a lap to go.

Empire

Elegant Olive (race 6): Given every chance by a superbly patient ride, she just could not see out the last furlong to pinch the race, losing by a length. Record at Huntingdon - raced 9, won 1, placed 3, fourth 2. If only they did the bare three miles here, but promised to run at 3m 2f pace.

UK-Jumping Selections

Yabora (race 6): Ended his stint on the list in the lacklustre fashion that he has been building down to for a while.