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Arkle Trophy second Fair Along is to revert to fences at Aintree next month before being aimed at the totesport Chester Cup in May.
The five-year-old ran twice at the Cheltenham Festival, finishing runner-up to My Way De Solzen and then in the rear in the County Hurdle after showing up for a long way.
"I’d imagine he’d go to Aintree for the two-mile Maghull Novice Chase – although that might be too sharp for him – or the Melling Chase over two and a half," trainer Philip Hobbs told At The Races.
"The Chester Cup is the plan for him. Going two and a quarter miles on a tight left-handed track, he will buzz round those bends."
I can see the Chester Cup being tailormade for Fair Along he’ll love the course zipping round on the inside rail.
Can’t make my mind up about him over fences now, am thinking he maybe needs a sharp 2 1/2 miles which would mean Aintree would be ideal.
If something like Lennon or Jack The Giant took him on over two miles I think Fair Along would be forced to sit in again and I’m not sure its what he likes ideally.
Johnson had a mare of a time on him in the Arkle, giving him a ride comparable to that of Ricou on (the formerly world class) Jair Du Cochet in the SunAlliance some years ago. Granted, there were other front runners in the race, but the pace wasn’t overly quick offering no plausible reason for him to be sat in 4th/5th all the way round.
No such mistakes on Massini’s Maguire though…..
LetsGetRacing Fair Along seemed to be struggling to go the pace to me. More than once he was pushed along to hold his position.
Maybe he was sulking a bit I really don’t know, I didn’t expect him to be short of speed but it looked that way on Tuesday.
Quote: from clivex on 9:43 pm on Mar. 18, 2007[br]Similar scenario to DC of course…. Not unconnected?
<br>But then Fair Along ran well enough to finish second and the stable had a winner with Massini’s Maguire.
I dunno what to make of it all at the moment if I’m honest.
<br>I was thinking of entering Salute for the Chester Cup if he runs well on his next start – on the grounds that if you don’t enter, you can’t run etc.
Would be nice of the Hobbs team to provide us with a pacemaker for their one time inmate!
AP
Bad Ride, end of… There were several front runners dropped out this week and it didnt work once. Johnson should have had him up there sighting his fences with some room up front.. They went a fair clip for the first three then he should have let him go on after that.. Instead he got crowded made a mistake got shuffled back and was chasing from there on.. Thats what lost the race in my opinion. And I didn;t back Massini’s because I had the hump with Johnson.. Never let you heart rule your betting!!!!
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Imo R Johnson rode a sensible race in the circumstances.<br>Bearing in mind that he hadn’t lasted home in the previous year’s Triumph, and, as the first chase of the meeting, he couldn’t really know how fast the chase course was riding, the horse had to be ridden to last home in a race run at a strong pace, which is exactly what he did.<br>I am aware he had beaten MWDZ by front running at Sandown, but that isn’t Cheltenham, nor was it the same test as the Champion Chase.
Nothing came up the hill better in my opinion even after he was hampered. A strongly run 2mile hurdle race takes more toll on the stamina than a chase so I don;t think that would have been an issue. With Fair Along being so small he was done no favours by being in the scrum in the middle of the field.. I still think it was a poor ride. Made even more annoying because Johnson is one of the best from the front as he showed the following day..
AP, would love to see Salute run in the Chester Cup, but off a mark of 80, he is unlikely to make the cut. Hope you can get a good run into him to get him raised 2-3 lbs.
I have no idea why richard didnt blaze the trail with fair along, as i have said before!<br>he jumps so well out in front and sulks when he isnt up front, as we have also seen before. <br>It was to his credit that he stayed on for 2nd, after never bing in the race, you could tell from the body language in the paddock that hobbs wasnt best pleased with the ride johnson gave. <br>I bet he goes off like the clappers at aintree. Richard wont want to make the same mistke twice!<br>
<br>I’ve read endless criticism of Johnson re Fair Along, both here and elsewhere, all of which leaves me wondering if anybody watched the race.
In my view the person you should be criticising is the starter, who clearly told the jockeys to stop and then suddenly changed his mind as Graham Lee charged forward on Lennon on the wide outside.
Lennon and two or three others got a flyer and the horses that had been closest to the tape were caught flat footed. Having lost that ground at the start, the jockey has to accept the position – and Fair Along didn’t jump as well in midfield as he might have done on his own in front.
The pace was too strong for Johnson ever to be in a position to rush from midfield to the lead, and if he had done so, he would probably have been beaten further as a result of using up that energy mid race.
Check out where the actual front runners finished – Jack The Giant would have been fifth at best but for the two fallers at the second last.
AP
<br>Flagship,
Of course – I’m always a year behind with these changes of retained rider.
AP
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