Gary Hanmer hopes stable star The Flier Begley can further enhance his bargain buy status in the Unibet Summer Plate Handicap Chase at Market Rasen on Saturday.
Picked up for £10,000 out of the Stuart Crawford yard at the Goffs UK Spring Sales in May last year, the Shirocco gelding has proven a shrewd purchase.
In 12 starts for the Harthill handler the 10 year old has won five, along with finishing placed on four other occasions, winning more than £100,000 in prize money in the process. Now the ten-year-old will bid to make it three course-and-distance victories at the Lincolnshire circuit at the weekend by following up his last time out win in the Summer Plate Trial in the extended two mile five furlong Premier Handicap.
And although The Flier Begley has a career high mark of 137 to contend with, Hanmer reports his stable flagbearer to be firing on all cylinders ahead of the £100,000 contest.
Hanmer said: “The Flier Begley is in great nick at home and I couldn’t be happier with him so we will see how we get on in the Summer Plate. We will find out if this is one race too many on Saturday, but he seems in good form at home and I’m happy with him. He keeps creeping up the weights and he will reach his ceiling at some stage, but hopefully we are not quite there yet. He is two out of two over course and distance so let’s hope he can make it three out of three on Saturday.”
While Hanmer is now only too pleased to have The Flier Begley as part of his team, he admits to initially being cautious to how much improvement he would find upon joining his yard last year. But he believes one thing has been key to his upturn in fortunes.
He added: “The more you buy at the value he cost us the more times it doesn’t work out. If they all ended up like him we would be cooking on gas. When we got him from the sales ring I wasn’t sure how we would get on. I thought if Stuart can’t do much with him then what are the chances we can, however, it has ended up being all good. We have not done anything out of the ordinary with him, but we did his wind last year and that has been the catalyst to his improvement.”
It wasn’t until earlier this year, following his first course and distance victory in a Unibet Middle Distance Chase Series Veterans’ Handicap Chase, that the Summer Plate came onto the agenda according to Hanmer.
He added: “I think it would have been a bit of a lofty ambition to think we would have been here when we got him last year. When he won at Market Rasen in January that is when I said to the owner this could well be an option. He won well up at Haydock Park and this looked the obvious direction to take him in. He had a nice break then came back and won the trial for this and here we are.”
Doing the steering in the saddle once again will be Jack Hogan, who has been on board The Flier Begley for his last five victories.
And Hanmer feels the bond they have developed is a big plus for a race like this.
He added: “Jack had a spin on him yesterday morning and seemed happy. He is quite a simplistic horse though as he wants to win and jumps like a buck. When Jack was able to claim three pounds off his back it always felt like he was well-in as he was good value for it. The pair of them get on very well together though which is what you want going into a race like this.”
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