Alex Hammond column: Weekend thoughts
Our columnist is with Lalor in Saturday's Coral Trophy. Check out her thoughts on the big weekend action.
In my job you get to meet and interview some extraordinary characters. When I was at Sky Sports News there were many top-level sports stars to interview, so it became almost second nature, and whilst you never got particularly blasé about speaking to people who are idolised for their sporting achievements, it didn’t excite you as much as you’d imagine.
I remember a couple of occasions when that wasn’t the case. Roger Federer has always been a hero of mine, and an interview after Wimbledon with the Swiss star was particularly memorable. As a young racing fan, I was in awe of Luca Cumani, so when he came on to chat one morning, I was more excited than usual. When asked to recall some of the famous names I’ve spoken to over the years it’s quite challenging, as they almost blur into one. This week I’ve been lucky enough to speak to another hero, one I’ve admired for decades.
In fact, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn’t be speaking to you now. So, when I was asked recently if I’d like to interview David Elsworth for a “Legends” feature on Sky Sports Racing it didn’t take much thinking about. It was Elsie’s handling of the magnificent Desert Orchid in the late 80s that charged my interest in horse racing. At the time I was a pony obsessed teenager and the highlight of my TV viewing was either Horse of The Year Show (which I ended up presenting for 10 years on Sky Sports) or the racing on either BBC or Channel 4. Dessie’s flamboyant and courageous style won me over and from then on, this girl from Sheffield wanted to work in racing.
So, I headed off to the outskirts of Newmarket this week to chat to the great man and needless to say it lived up to expectations. He kept emphasising that he’s been lucky in his career (therefore by my reckoning he must be the luckiest man in racing!). In reality it’s us who are the lucky ones to have been around during his incredible tenure. The feature will be out next month on Sky Sports Racing, and I hope it does him justice.
This weekend is a busy one. I’m covering the action from the studio on Saturday, before heading to Fontwell for Sunday’s Sky Sports Racing Sky 415 National Spirit Hurdle. There’s also a competitive card at Kempton on Saturday and that’s where I’ll kick things off with the Coral Trophy Handicap Chase, a race won three times by David Elsworth in 1987 (Combs Ditch), 1988 (Rhyme N’Reason) and 1990 (Desert Orchid).
The latter carried 12 stone 3lbs to victory and that was another interesting conversation with the great Elsie about handicaps and how so many of these races and the campaigning of great horses has changed over the years. In my mind, not always for the better. This is still a handicap though and top weight with 11 stone 12lbs is Good Boy Bobby, who won the Rowland Meyrick at Wetherby on his last start and is 4lbs higher in the weights now.
Annsam deserves his position at the head of the market (9/2 with Sky Bet) and there could be more to come from this seven-year-old who has only had five starts over fences and his win at Ascot before Christmas has worked out well with the runner-up, Phoenix Way, winning well at the same track last month.
That horse is in opposition once again, but I worry that the step back up to three miles won’t bring out the best in him, even though I was really impressed with that Ascot victory under talented conditional jockey Kevin Brogan. I always hoped there would be more to come from The Big Breakaway and connections obviously feel the same as he has his second start after a wind op, has a tongue tie fitted and cheekpieces on for the second time.
There has been plenty of support for Gary Moore’s Zhiguli this week and I can see his chance on form but am worried the ground won’t be testing enough for him at Kempton on Saturday. I can’t get away from Lalor particularly with Sky Bet paying five places.
He’s 14/1, and if he can reproduce his penultimate run when third to the ill-fated Midnight Shadow and Protektorat at Cheltenham off this handicap mark, he will play a hand in the finish. He was disappointing last time out but seems to retain his ability if he can put it all together.
There’s a decent card on the all-weather at Lingfield where the<a href="https://www.sportinglife.com/racing/racecards/2022-02-26/lingfield/racecard/668530/betway-winter-derby-stakes-group-3-all-weather-championships-fast-track-qualifier"> Betway Winter Derby looks high class and to emphasise that the market is headed by dual Group One winner Lord North. Sky Bet have him at 5/6 to win on his reappearance and his first run since landing the Dubai Turf last March. He hasn’t run for almost a year but that won’t be a problem as four of his seven wins have come after a break. He’s a quality individual with a high cruising speed and plenty of gears which make him overqualified for this test.
He’s trained by Team Gosden who have won the last three runnings of this race and it’s hard to see them walking away empty handed this year too. He faces some smart rivals that will be trying to foil the Gosden four-timer, including Alenquer who was last seen finishing ninth in the Arc.
Like the favourite, he also has high class form, including places at the highest level, but this is a stepping-stone to other targets, and he will prefer more of a test than he faces here. Richard Hannon’s Fancy Man has proven his liking for this track when winning the trial easily earlier this month but like the rest of the field they all have something to find with the hot favourite.
The Betway Hever Sprint Stakes is another race worth having a closer look at on Saturday. Last year’s winner Lord Riddiford is back to defend his title for John Quinn. Stuart Williams has his team in good form and his Tone the Barone is bidding to give the trainer his first win in the race since Royal Birth in 2017 (that horse ran well in a few renewals of this too).
He an incredible horse with ten wins from 25 starts and is already a course-and-distance winner. Whilst he has a free running style of racing, his jockey Marco Ghiani knows him well and I’m happy to have him on my team at 7/2 with Sky Bet.
Onto Fontwell on Sunday where I’m looking forward to cheering home Brewin’Upastorm in the feature. Of course, it won’t be as straightforward as all that with the likes of Darver Star, Monmiral and Allmankind amogt the opposition. However, the guts Brewin’ showed to win at Lingfield on Winter Million weekend on ground he wouldn’t have relished was heart-warming.
He reeled in Darver Star and the hanging Goshen to record an unlikely victory. I hope he can repeat his win of 12 months ago for Olly Murphy and Aidan Coleman.
So, a busy weekend for me, but I’m still basking in the glow of my memorable trip to chat to Elsie, the likes of which we’ll be lucky to see again. Legend indeed.
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