Similar to the Cambridgeshire a couple of weeks earlier, the Cesarewitch proved an anti-climax with Sixandahalf being a late withdrawal and Sea of Sands trailing in eleventh. The pair were selected in the Autumn Update - the latter, who was advised at 20/1, raced too keenly early on and failed to get home. William Buick's mount travelled strongly but the petrol gauge was flashing with over a quarter of a mile to run as he paid for his exertions. Despite his defeat, Willie Mullins' charge remains a decent dual purpose prospect.
It has been a frustrating seven days for Update clients following the narrow defeats of Northern Ticker and Zarigana at Redcar and Longchamp respectively. The trend continued on Saturday with Room Service failing by three parts of a length in the Coral Sprint at York. The three year old had found conditions too lively in the Ayr Gold Cup last time but encountered a much slower surface on the Knavesmire. Not for the first time, Kevin Ryan's top weight was off the bridle during the early stages - plus his wide draw didn't aid his cause. Pulled to the outside, the son of Kodi Bear finished strongly and was bearing down on the winner Strike Red Close home. While his defeat was difficult to swallow, it was an excellent performance given his age and shouldering top weight of 9st 11lb. Conceding nine pounds to a more experience runner, he is rated 105 and it would be no surprise to see him reappearing in something like the Listed Cammidge Trophy at Doncaster next March. The softer the ground, the better.
As discussed, I was working at York on Friday and Saturday and before racing on the second day I spoke to Paul Mulrennan about the aforementioned Northern Ticker. Paul felt the Michael Dods trained runner was the best horse in the race and couldn't believe he got beaten. He felt his lack of experience cost him because he caught sight of a number of yellow buses on the inside of the track and they distracted his mount. He also said that he could have done with a lead for longer, plus the testing ground may have blunted his speed. Raised from a mark of 87 to 101, the gelded son of Mehmas is expected to develop into a Pattern race sprinter in 2025.
Switching codes, we now have less than a hundred copies of One Jump Ahead in stock - please head to the Publications section to order one of the remaining copies, plus the Updates.
There were two featured horses from OJA running on Saturday and they dominated the juvenile hurdle which kicked off the card at Chepstow. My Noble Lord, featured in the Changing Codes section, won four times on the Flat for Michael Bell earlier this year before being acquired privately by J.P.McManus and sent into training with Olly Greenall and Josh Guerriero. City of London is highlighted in the Unraced section having been purchased for 38,000gns in May and is a half-brother to stable companion Nemean Lion. The latter attempted to make all and belied his lack of experience - this was his first racecourse appearance - by forcing the McManus winner to pull out all the stops before leading inside the final hundred yards. A length and three quarters separated the pair and they looked above average for this time of year. There should be plenty more to come from the pair.
Janes Harbour (18/1), also included in the Changing Codes section, was unlucky not to win the opening juvenile hurdle at Cork on Sunday. The Joseph O'Brien trained filly was racing for only the third time during her career and a minor error at the second last almost certainly cost her victory. Prior to that, Mark Walsh's mount travelled smoothly and was last off the bridle. Making up ground on the run-in, she was beaten a head and neck in third. Backed from 33/1 into 18/1 shortly before the off, she won't be anything like that in the market next time.
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