Shocking Saturday

To say the results on Saturday, as far as One Jump Ahead is concerned, were poor is somewhat of an understatement. All three runners in the Top 40 Prospects were beaten out of sight with the only consolation being that two of the performances were too bad to be true. French import Bo Zenith looked sluggish throughout the juvenile hurdle at Sandown and was beaten before reaching the second last, while stable companion Authorised Speed, who was a warm order for the Grade 1 Tolworth Novices' Hurdle, was also in trouble long before penultimate flight. It is worth bearing in mind Gary Moore fielded five runners at the Esher venue and they produced form figures of 37P57 and were beaten 27, 39, 32 and 32 lengths. It transpired that Authorised Speed scoped badly afterwards. The Moore family must have approached the meeting with high hopes but left despondent. It was one of those days and Liverpool's performance against Wolves in the FA Cup the same evening wasn't much better. 

I thought Djelo shaped encouragingly in the concluding handicap hurdle at Sandown. Featured in the French Revolution section of OJA, Venetia Williams' gelding had won on his UK debut at Exeter in impressive fashion in November off a mark of 114. Beaten under a penalty next time at Haydock, the five year old didn't look comfortable racing left-handed that day. Back in action off a rating of 129, he was given plenty to do before staying on after the last. Beaten three and a quarter lengths, he handles most types of ground and could be ideal for something like the Imperial Cup over the same C&D in March. There are more races to be won with him off his current rating.