John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Wednesday.
Rare Hobbs runners worth noting at Hexham
It’s a long time since Philip Hobbs sent any runners on the long journey from his Somerset yard to Hexham. It’s more than four years in fact, since when Johnson White has joined Hobbs as joint licence-holder, and the stable’s last winner there, in September 2020, was ridden by the now retired Richard Johnson. But while Hobbs’ Hexham raiders were few and far between in the past, they enjoyed a particularly good strike-rate there, with six winners from 11 runners between 2015 and 2020.
After all that time, therefore, Hobbs and White have two runners at Hexham on Wednesday, with conditional Callum Pritchard partnering Not A Light in the first division of the maiden hurdle (13:20) and Hold Up La Colmine in the 2m4f handicap chase (14:50), both running for owners Tim Syder and Martin St Quinton. Both horses have considerable absences to overcome but return at a time when the stable’s runners are in good form – they had a treble closer to home at Exeter last week.
Not A Light in particular has strong claims in his race which looks a very winnable contest even though he’s been off the course for pretty much exactly two years. Placed in points and a bumper in Ireland, he then had two runs over hurdles for Hobbs in late-2022, going very close on the second occasion when beaten a short head by the fairly useful Grozni in a novice at Leicester. That’s much the best form on offer, and he’s bred to stay well too, so Hexham’s stiff finish should suit the half-brother to useful staying chaser Heathfield.
Torneo another four-year-old winner over fences?
Unlike their French counterparts who have a whole programme, including championship events, laid out for them, relatively few jumpers in Britain are sent over fences at the age of just four despite receiving a weight allowance (which is 6 lb at this stage of the season). But five individual four-year-olds have won over fences so far this season, notably Kalif du Berlais who looked a smart chasing prospect for Paul Nicholls when winning at Newbury recently, while there were wins last week for Superbolt at Ludlow and Billytherealbigred at Exeter, the latter making it two out of two over fences and showing useful form. The record of four-year-olds in chases in Britain so far this season reads six winners from 29 runners at a creditable strike rate of 20.7% for a level-stake profit of £32.75.
Bidding to keep the ball rolling for four-year-olds over fences is Torneo for Jamie Snowden in the novice handicap chase at Hereford (14:35). Snowden, incidentally, is no stranger to success with four-year-olds over fences as he won this very race three years ago with another four-year-old, Hardy du Seuil, while stable star Ga Law completed a hat-trick over fences at the same age in the Rising Stars Novices’ Chase at Wincanton.
Torneo lacks the size of that pair but he was a wide-margin winner of a juvenile hurdle at Wetherby last winter and has been placed in both his races over fences so far. He left the form of his chasing debut behind at Wincanton last time where his jumping was much more assured, suggesting further improvement could be on the cards. Challenging from two out, Torneo kept on well to go down by half a length to the much more seasoned chaser Famoso. Although a pound out of the weights here, he heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings by the same amount.
Eydon the clear pick in Wild Flower
Last year’s Wild Flower Stakes at Kempton was won by the previous season’s Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Rebel Romance who won back that title last month. He’s a high-class gelding who stands out as the best winner of the mile and a half listed contest and there’s nothing in this year’s field with pretensions to reaching quite the same heights as Godolphin’s winner twelve months ago. But there’s still a clear form pick in the six-runner line-up (19:10) in the form of Eydon whose trainer Andrew Balding won this four years ago with Johnny Drama.
The lightly-raced five-year-old did look destined for bigger things, though, earlier in his career when trained by Roger Varian. He caused an upset when winning the listed Feilden Stakes at the Craven meeting when just a twice-raced maiden and as a result took his chance in the 2000 Guineas where he finished a fine fourth behind Coroebus, Native Trail and Luxembourg at odds of 33/1. But an injury sustained when preparing for the Derby led to a near two-year absence before he returned in the Winter Derby at Southwell early this year in which he reportedly finished lame.
Clearly a fragile type, Eydon was off the course for another seven months after that but produced a career best in the Doonside Cup at Ayr in September when dead-heating for second, half a length behind three-year-old Persica. A reproduction of that smart effort in this less competitive listed contest would make Eydon hard to beat as he’s 11 lb clear in the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings. Eydon has admittedly underperformed since in a similar event at Newmarket but can be forgiven that effort on heavy ground and has Oisin Murphy in the saddle for the first time here.
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