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The race at Aintree looks fascinating at this stage although I see he’s also entered in Bangor’s race the following day. Would he be more likely to take up the Sunday engagement?
Aintree is the preferred option. The Bangor race looks potentially even more competitive with Halogen, Juno The Muffinman, Outback and Rapid Heat Lad all holding entries.
I see he’s entered at Galway on the flat again next week. Anyone know when he’s likely to revert to hurdles?
They have but to have both RUK and ATR on the same site is really handy
Agreed. I can never remember which are the RUK courses and which the ATR courses so inevitable I end up going to the wrong site first to watch a reply.
How on earth does the RP still think it can charge for these replays?
IMHO the importance of past form is merely what it tells you about a horse’s optimum conditions. Only if I know a horse has its optimum conditions do I then turn to look at the other factors which might cause it to be worth a bet.
Great article, Corm. It prompted me to have a look at James’ website which is equally impressive. The very best of luck to him for the forthcoming season.
Well it finally looks as though Poetic Power will make his debut in what might be quite a hot introductory juvenile at Aintree on Sunday. Counsel (85), Deepsand (82) and Moidore (85) all look interesting debutants transferring from the flat. Nicholls and Henderson supply the French connection and Handazan finished closest to Far West last time.
Poetic Power will be anchored at the back of the field in an attempt to settle him. The last two months have been spent trying to stop him pulling the jockey’s arms off and he has worked alone for the whole of that period. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if he gets in a bit close to the first couple of hurdles just to take the edge off him.
Hopefully Robbie McCarth who has done all his schooling at home will take the ride.
If he’s going forward at the finish then it will be a case of ‘job done’.
Well another one on the board for Tobougg but if Fisher had jumped the last it would probably have been a different result
I wonder who the joker at the RP is who described tonight’s weather conditions at Kempton as ‘light early, getting dark’?
Timeform has now updated its ‘Top 10’ list for juvenile hurdlers:
136p FAR WEST
128 HILALI
125 GRAND GOLD
119p HANDAZAN
118p SAMETEGAL
118+ HALOGEN
113+ RAPID HEAT LAD
113 KING’S WHARF
112 GIGONDAS
111 FEB THIRTYFIRST
111 TOP MAN MICHAEL
110p FISHER
109 WHIPCRACKAWAY
108p INDEPUB
108 STARLIFE
107 THIRD HALF
105p DONT TAKE ME ALIVE
104 JUNO THE MUFFINMAN
104 MR LANDO
103p HAYMARKET
No surprise to see Far West at the top of the heap and the Timeform rating certainly fits with a high 120s debut performance
It looks as though Poetic Power will be Dylan Thomas’ first runner over hurdles as we are intending to run at Kempton a week on Sunday.
What happened here? I had a bunch of "Poetic Power, Kempton, 21st October" souvenir mugs, t-shirts, caps, scarfs and cuff-links made up. How am I supposed to shift them now?
A bit of a sore point actually as we are still none the wiser as to why he wasn’t entered. The general rule of thumb for trainers when it comes to communicating with their owners is ‘Treat them like mushrooms’ ie keep them in the dark and feed them a load of s**t
Anyways, even though it’s way too early to draw conclusions, I have been looking at the success of sires and damsires alike so far.
Looking at individual winners, of which there have been 27, Haafhd, Imperial Dancer and Shirocco are the leading sires with two apiece. Pennekamp and Revoque are the only sires with more than one individual winner, each with a score of two.
Looking at individual horses by their RPR, there are 38 who have achieved a rating of 100 or more before today. Rock Of Gibraltar has emerged as the early leader with 3, followed by Dubai Destination, Imperial Dancer, Jeremy and Shirocco. As for damsires, Alzao, Night Shift, Rainbow Quest and Revoque each have two.
Taking the above into account, something like a Rock Of Gibraltar x Night Shift cross going over hurdles (such as Richard Hannon’s Rockinante) would be very intriguing (although this hasn’t helped Camrock Star but to be fair, she looks very ordinary).
The results at the end of the season should be much more conclusive.
It looks as though Poetic Power will be Dylan Thomas’ first runner over hurdles as we are intending to run at Kempton a week on Sunday.
Well that performance from Far West has catapulted him to the top of the tree. Jumped cleanly throughout and won with plenty in hand. I wouldn’t have him down as a Triumph contender just yet but he can only progress. Handazan looked absolutely fantastic going over the first but after a blunder at the second, his jumping just wasn’t up to scratch. He clearly has the engine and the physique to do better in the future.
That looked like a high 120s performance. Certainly a good first run over hurdles.
It’s early days but we haven’t seen a standout performance so far from the juvenile ranks. I suspect the first chance of that will be on the 21st at Kempton. It’s possible Poetic Power will be making his debut in that race.
