All-Weather racing tips, news and tracker horses

Stott hot heading into turf season

The week after Cheltenham is always a steady one but I don’t see the reason for such little all-weather racing. It is disappointing and has made for a very quiet week, so it gives us a chance to recap on some of the big stories and horses which have caught the eye so far this all-weather season.

Firstly, it would be rude not to mention Kevin Stott, who made the decision to leave his position as stable jockey for Kevin Ryan at the end of the turf season last year and to branch out as a freelancer. One relationship which has blossomed over the last few months is with Classic-winning trainer George Boughey.

Boughey continues to go from strength to strength as a trainer and lies second only to Mick Appleby in the all-weather trainers’ championship, who has had 423 runners since the 18th of October (start of the all-weather season) at the time of writing to Boughey’s 256.

The link up with Boughey has also helped Stott to be one of the leading riders on the all-weather this season and he has been surpassed at the top of the jockeys’ championship only recently by Daniel Muscatt. Stott trails by only four, so with a few weeks left until Finals Day on Good Friday, he still has every chance of being crown champion.

As a result of Stott’s success on the all-weather this winter he has recently been appointed as first jockey for the burgeoning racing organisation Amo Racing. They have risen in size and stature over the past couple of years, investing heavily and having a big number of horses with plenty of different trainers up and down the country and also in Ireland.

It looks a perfect opportunity for the talented Stott to take the next step in his career and horses such as Beresford Stakes winner Crypto Force is just one exciting prospect he has to look forward to. Crypto Force has been switched to John & Thady Gosden for his three-year-old season and is a general 25/1 shot for the Derby.

The partnership has got off to a brilliant start with Stott riding his first turf winner for Amo Racing when two-year-old Bucanero Fuerte made a winning debut at the Curragh earlier on Saturday. It was a taking performance in testing conditions and early evidence suggests he is well above average. It will be intriguing to see what else Amo Racing unleash in the coming weeks on the back of this given the money they have spent on juveniles once again.

Zealot's rapid rise

One of the success stories of this all-weather season has been the Mick Appleby-trained Zealot. He has proved yet another shrewd purchase by The Horse Watchers, picked up for just 19,000 guineas at the Autumn Horses-In-Training sale and he has gone on to record seven wins in their distinctive orange and black silks.

In that time his has improved 39lb on Timeform ratings, currently sitting on 109, and the style of his latest win over a mile and a quarter at Chelmsford suggests he hasn’t reached his ceiling yet. The step up in trip has helped him unlock further improvement, winning his last three starts at that distance in some style, and he is very well suited by the all-weather – he was beaten over 10 lengths when starting the even-money favourite on his sole start on turf.

However, it would probably be unfair to pigeonhole him as an all-weather specialist having had just the one try on turf, which came just eight days after bolting up on his return from 19 months off. His entry in the Lincoln at Doncaster also suggests that connections aren’t especially worried about switching him back to turf, either, and being by Pivotal, he should handle some ease in the ground. A straight mile at a track like Doncaster should be ideal for him and, provides another option if connections want to stay in handicaps or head to Finals Day on Good Friday. I have a feeling that connections will want to roll the dice in something like the Easter Classic, though, and you wouldn’t blame them.

Lord tops season's ratings

The best performance on the all-weather this season – based on Timeform ratings – came from Lord North who ran out an easy winner of the Winter Derby at Lingfield, earning himself a Timeform performance rating of 119.

He went one place better in the race than he had 12 months previous and, though he isn’t getting any younger, it was hard not to be impressed by the manner in which he dismissed some smart rivals, his customary turn of foot once more proving the difference. Lord North proved the Winter Derby to be the perfect stepping stone once again as he won a third straight Dubai Turf at Meydan on Saturday with plenty in hand. He dead-heated in the race 12 months ago with subsequent Saudi Cup winner Panthalassa, but he wasn’t sharing anything this year, always well positioned and he was pulled out with a perfect run in the straight.

Frankie Dettori even had to take a pull on him as he seemingly picked up better than anticipated and Lord North was just kept up to his work to seal the deal. He will likely be campaigned in a similar fashion for the remainder of the year, aimed at all the big races over a mile and a quarter and he really is a most likeable horse.

There is some decent action to look forward to as normal service resumes next week and there are a couple of useful handicaps on Kempton’s card on Wednesday evening. These will be talked about in more detail in the coming days but Mount Athos particularly takes the eye. He looked a natural when bolting up on his all-weather debut at Kempton in October, proving his opening mark all wrong as he easily defeated another well-handicapped sort by five lengths. That form has been franked since and he is a horse to remain very positive about despite being hit with a 12 lb rise.

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