Gary Moore has an interesting handicap newcomer at Fakenham and Matt Brocklebank reckons there could be mileage in his initial mark.
Storming home?
There’s barely a better yard at preparing a handicap hurdler than the Gary Moore team and with that in mind it’s going to be worth keeping half an eye on the betting market ahead of the Download The Free At The Races App Handicap Hurdle.
Stormingin, a son of Clodovil, went through a few sets of hands on the level but showed some early promise in that sphere in Ireland and was rated in the low-80s before losing his way a little last year.
Don Cantillon seemed to spark something in him earlier this year but Moore stepped things up when taking the five-year-old into his care back in April.
Three seconds and a third represented a pretty encouraging start for Moore and though his three latest outings haven’t yielded much in the way of promise, two spins back over hurdles last month now mean he’s qualified for this type of race.
A BHA jumps mark of 104 is by no means a gift based on what we’ve seen so far, but any easing of the ground would definitely be in his favour and today could represent a reasonable opportunity to at least start heading in the right direction in this code.
Hats off to The Queen
Fakenham’s Sky Sports Racing Launching January 1st Handicap Chase may not have been high among the initial targets for Her Majesty’s Forth Bridge when he first set foot on a racecourse, but this is clearly his level now.
The son of Bernardini didn’t quite come up to scratch on the Flat but there was a Triumph Hurdle dream once upon a time after he won two of his first three starts over timber, including a Listed race Musselburgh.
Cheltenham had to be given a miss in 2017 and Aintree didn’t work out as he finished 23 lengths adrift of Defi Du Seuil, after which he became increasingly hard to place over hurdles.
The switch to chasing earlier this year might just have reignited something in the five-year-old and he was arguably a shade unlucky not to get closer to Capeland at Wincanton last month.
That was just his third start in a handicap chase and he should be a force at this kind of level.
Glory be!
The Betway Heed Your Hunch Handicap is the pick of the action on an otherwise low-key card at Southwell and there’s no more interesting contender than National Glory.
Trainer Archie Watson only really started to make a serious name for himself around this time last year with a string of all-weather winners, many of which he’d picked up from other yards and improved out of all recognition.
A return of 3-17 at 18% so far in December looks like a figure which will certainly be built upon in the coming weeks and National Glory immediately takes the eye on debut for Watson under Hollie Doyle.
The Invincible Spirit gelding has never raced on Fibresand but he was good enough to win a Naas maiden for Joseph O’Brien in July, after which he disappointed at seven furlongs and then back over six at Dundalk when last seen in September.
On a day’s racing when market vibes are likely to reveal plenty over what can be expected on the track, it might just pay to try and stay ahead of the curve when it comes to National Gory.
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