Wincanton – Saturday
1.50pm
Sunrise Ruby
She is 11lb higher than when second at Sandown back in December, and 6lb higher when beaten a fair way at Newbury afterwards, but hopefully she has improved sufficiently since then to see her be competitive in this handicap. She won by a wide margin on her return at Newton Abbot and then put up another commanding performance when following up at Kempton last time. Trip and ground look set to be ideal, and I’d like to think there is more improvement in her.
Sandown – Sunday
1.50pm
Your Darling
He was obviously very impressive when winning his Newbury bumper but then he ran no kind of race at Warwick next time. But he got back on track with a decent third for me on his hurdling debut at Huntingdon recently, and that gives him fair claims. A few in here can probably say the same though, and I did really like Adrimel when I rode him to win his Doncaster bumper under a 7lb penalty. He could prove troublesome.
2.25pm
Pym
He does handle soft ground, as he showed when winning at Ascot last November, but he probably found the conditions just too testing when pulled up on his final two starts last season, latterly in the RSA. His best effort to date came on good to soft when beating Imperial Aura by 8 lengths off level at Cheltenham, and the good ground here will be in his favour. He has a good record when fresh too, and I obviously expect him to go close with just three runners, although the high-class hurdler If The Cap Fits did look very good on his chasing debut at Ffos Las and I imagine he will be the strong favourite getting 4lb off us.
3.00pm
Mister Coffey
We haven’t seen him for getting on for a year now and the last time we did is pretty forgettable too, as he pulled his chance away and was very disappointing when second at Huntingdon. So he wears a first-time hood here to help him settle. We saw the real Mister Coffey before that when he was really impressive at Newbury and he is a horse we have high hopes for this season. Perhaps he will come into his own when he goes over fences, but I would like to think he can be very competitive in this handicap hurdle off a mark of 128 here in the meantime.
3:30pm
Gold Present
He has had another wind op since we last saw him. He is getting on for eleven now but that is youthful in terms of these veterans’ races and he has dropped to a decent mark and will love the ground. And he has gone very well off a break in the past. He has his chance, all right.
4.00pm
No Ordinary Joe
Mont Segur won very well at Ludlow and is the obvious one in here but he has to give us all 7lb and No Ordinary Joe has a nice pedigree and hopefully can show us plenty of promise on his racecourse bow. He was going to run at Newbury on Thursday but we pulled him out because of the ground. The boss likes him, I think.
