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Two brave efforts in seven days and it looked as it left its mark as the horse pulled up on its next two outing and then retired.
Having had 22 months off after his Betfred Gold Cup win, Hot Weld was hardly rushed back into battle.
To my mind he was also a gelding who in his more recent seasons showed an increasing need to have a handful of runs, and preferably also a bit of warmth on his back, before he hit his stride for the season.
I wonder where Tom was, and what action he was recommending, when Hot Weld pulled up in his first three outings of the 2006-7 season, the first of which came a comparatively short six months after a second place in a 4m Punchestown handicap.
Despite those early failures (two of which were accrued on a sound enough surface not to have inconvenienced greatly), Hot Weld did of course go on to record his Scottish National / Betfred double a few months later.
I’d read little else into his two failures in February-March, and had expected better as the season wore on – maybe even (if still ring-rusty earlier in the Spring) culminating in a tilt at the Summer National, for all that his last recorded OR of 141 would have secured him topweight in this year’s renewal.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
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