The Timeform team continue their list of horses to follow with Simon Walker highlighting a lightly-raced stayer trained by Iain Jardine.
Ravenscraig Castle (Iain Jardine)
The owners going by the name of Castle Racing Scotland had three horses run for them on the Flat in Britain last season, all of them trained by Iain Jardine and named after significant landmarks north of the border.
One of them was Ravenscraig Castle, who shares his name with a structure in Kirkcaldy dating back to the second half of the fifteenth century, when King James II ordered it to be built as a place of residence for his wife, Queen Mary of Gueldres.
Today the castle lies in ruins, but it will be a surprise if the racing career of the equine Ravenscraig Castle meets the same fate in 2022, such was the staying power he showed in five appearances last season.
Ravenscraig Castle achieved just a fair level of form in three starts at two, but he took a big step forward after nine months off and a gelding operation to open his account at Carlisle in July. Making his handicap debut from an opening BHA mark of 69, he was well suited both by the step up in trip and the way things developed, coming from a long way back in a strongly-run race to win by a length and a quarter.
Ravenscraig Castle then defied a 4 lb rise in the weights to follow up at Ayr later that month, stepping up to 13 furlongs this time and clearly relishing the extra distance as he overcame unfavourable circumstances to land the spoils by two lengths. The runner-up Fandabidozi had dictated matters to suit him, so it was to Ravenscraig Castle’s credit that he was ultimately well on top at the finish after coming under pressure a fair way out.
Despite having easier options in the North open to him in his hat-trick bid, Ravenscraig Castle made his next appearance in the hugely competitive Sky Bet Melrose at York’s Ebor Festival, where he ran a stormer on his first try over a mile and three quarters to finish third, doing his best work late on to pass the post just half a length behind the winner Valley Forge.
His strength at the finish suggested he would be suited by going up further in trip and he duly showed improved form when filling the runner-up spot over two miles at Musselburgh in September, sticking to his task well to be beaten just three quarters of a length.
Two-mile handicaps are probably where Ravenscraig Castle’s future lies in 2022, particularly as he appeared to lack the pace to make more of an impact when fourth on his final start back at York in October, that race coming over the same course and distance as the Melrose.
He will start his four-year-old campaign on a BHA mark of 87 and there should be more races to be won with him when the emphasis is firmly on stamina, with the Northumberland Plate appealing as an obvious target.
(Simon Walker - Tipping Editor & Senior Horse Racing Analyst)