Sceau Royal goes for Elite again
My big ride on Saturday is SCEAU ROYAL in the Grade 2 Unibet Elite Hurdle and he came out of his Kempton win really nicely. He did a nice piece of work at Alan King’s on Tuesday morning, he seems very fresh and well.
The one to beat could be Goshen with Gary Moore’s horses going well, if he’s at his best it could be a hell of a race, but we know my fellow is in good form and loves Wincanton.
He’s won this race twice before including last year, he’s a wonderful horse that has had longevity – he first won this race back in 2016 - and he’s got conditions to suit with the ground in his favour.
The Irish raider, Belfast Banter, is a threat, as well. He won at Cheltenham and Aintree last spring, so it’s a very good race and certainly not a penalty kick by any means.
I wouldn’t swap Sceau Royal for anything, though. Hopefully he can complete the Elite hat-trick.
Rest of Wincanton Saturday
I also ride a couple for Jack Smith at Wincanton on Saturday afternoon. He’s basically taken over from Nick Mitchell and his horses are starting to come out now – he had a winner last month at this track with Mascat.
KALYPTRA goes in the two-mile novice hurdle at 1.15 and he ran a nice sort of race when he was second at this track under me just under two weeks ago. He’s got a rating of 108 and realistically we’ll see the best of him when he tackles handicaps rather than the likes of Knappers Hill.
For the same connections I ride TAKODA in the bumper and I know very little about him as I haven’t sat on him at home. I do know he won a point-to-point by 25 lengths and he was taken out of an Ascot bumper last week due to the soft ground, so hopefully he’ll like these better conditions.
Daryl's Diary
As we head towards the Paddy Power meeting at Cheltenham things are going well.
It was well worth getting down to 10 stone 7lb to ride Indefatigable who was brilliant in the West Yorkshire Hurdle at Wetherby last Saturday. If I’m riding at around 10-6 or 10-7 then take note as I’d only do that to ride a fancied horse these days.
She was great and to get three winners at the Charlie Hall meeting was fantastic. Fusil Raffles has come out of his Charlie Hall victory really well and I thought the 4lb rise for Good Boy Bobby was fair enough – perhaps he can go in again off his new rating of 142.
I had a couple of seconds at Plumpton on Monday which was frustrating – I hate hitting the bar – and then it was over to Stuart Crawford’s in Ireland on Tuesday to put our horses through their paces.
All of the horses have done their first pieces of work on the grass now, I was very happy with them. They’ve come on an awful lot for getting out on the grass and are all just waiting for their first entries of the season.
Hexham Friday
I travel up to Hexham on Friday for a couple of rides including FULGURIX on his stable debut for Harry Whittington in the novice handicap chase at 2.10.
He was disappointing last year so we’re hoping for more now he’s switched stables and is tackling a fence for the first time. He’s only rated 113 and are hoping we’ve picked the right race for him.
In all honesty his schooling wasn’t great at first. He went to Harry’s and wasn’t pleasing us over a fence, so he sent him to Henrietta Knight’s and she’s done a fabulous job with him.
She’s had him loose schooling, getting him backing off a fence and he’s now making a nice shape over them, as well. She’s a wonderful horsewoman, so hopefully he can take what he’s learned there to the track.
I also ride SCHALKE for Rebecca Menzies in the closing novice hurdle at 3.40 and he ran okay in fourth on his seasonal debut up at Kelso. He’d shown ability in bumpers and is learning his trade over hurdles, so hopefully he can take another step forward in this 2m4f novices’ hurdle.
It’s a step up in trip for him, but on breeding it should suit.
Caribean Boy up for the Cup
It was a tough choice with regards to CARIBEAN BOY’s seasonal debut but we decided to go for the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham with him first time out in the end.
He’d schooled so well over the Aintree-style fences that Saturday’s Grand Sefton was a real option, but he’ll have a nice racing weight at Cheltenham and I’ll be able to ride him, which I couldn’t have done this weekend with me being at Wincanton.
He’s going very well at home, though, and it’s all systems go for Cheltenham.