Sunday proved to be an excellent day for followers of the Top 40 Prospects in One Jump Ahead with Adrimel (6/5) and Mister Coffey (2/1) scoring at Sandown Park. The former had some good form in bumpers last season winning at Uttoxeter and Doncaster before running in the Grade 1 event at the Cheltenham Festival. Tom Lacey's former winning pointer stayed on strongly after the second last to beat Lord of Kerak by three and a half lengths. Despite this win being gained over two miles, he can only improve when tackling further and has the potential to be one of the best horses his shrewd handler has dealt with.
Mister Coffey was having only his third run over obstacles and making his handicap debut later on the card. A real tearaway on his last run at Huntingdon, Nicky Henderson's strapping gelding was fitted with a hood for the first time and, while he got warm beforehand, the lightly raced five year old made a mockery of his opening mark of 128. Anchored in the rear by Nico De Boinville, he made good headway on the outside approaching the second last. Taking over soon afterwards, the race was all over as he bounded clear to win hard held by five lengths. On this evidence, he could win a big handicap hurdle before his attentions are turned to chasing in due course.
I am currently working on the November Update, which will be published on Thursday pm. There is still plenty of time to order a copy of the Updates - please go to the Publications section of the site.
In the meantime, I am working at Carlisle on Monday for Racing TV and will endeavour to pick up some more information for the Update. I had a good chat to Dan Skelton at Aintree on Saturday with news on some of his exciting youngsters, plus a new recruit set to go juvenile hurdling for owners Chris Giles and Jared Sullivan.
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