WE may now be based on the other side of the border but Kelso remains our local track. I’m also hoping it continues to be a lucky one!
Breizh River gave us all a great thrill – and our biggest win to date – when landing the Simply Ned Chase at Kelso’s last meeting three weeks ago. Hopefully we’ll be back in the winners’ enclosure to pick up some more of their trademark sack of carrots with at least one of our two runners there on Saturday.
We don’t have a runner in the £50,000 Edinburgh Gin Chase at 3.55, but we do have one in the new Nuts Well Chase that immediately follows at 4.30. I’d originally planned to send CANNOCK PARK for a novice handicap chase at Aintree this Sunday, but that looked like being a hot race when the entries came out. So we’re sticking closer to home, even though that means pitching him into an open handicap for just his second start over fences.
The big thing is bringing him back in trip. I thought he’d have no bother staying 2m4f on his chase debut at Hexham a fortnight ago, but he patently failed to. It was disappointing at the time and I’m still kicking myself a wee bit, as I don’t like getting things wrong. Learning lessons is part and parcel of the job – and we learnt that he’s a proper two-miler. So that’s how we’re going to campaign him this season.
He’s come out of the Hexham race well and he’s schooled nicely since then. I even rode him myself the other morning. He’s always been quite an immature horse mentally. Last season he would come out of a race quite fired up, but it’s been the opposite since Hexham. We’ve even been able to work him with some of our other horses, including Breizh River, when last season we simply weren’t able to.
Taking the bubble wrap off him is perhaps the best way for him to grow up. He’s going in against seasoned handicappers here, which is not necessarily ideal for a horse with limited experience over fences. The flipside is that there are only five runners, the top-weight is rated 9lb below the race’s ratings ceiling, and it’s on our doorstep. All things considered, it feels like the right decision to shop local!
The race is named after Nuts Well, who was a three-time winner of the Simply Ned Chase for Ann and Ian Hamilton. They’ll be mad keen to win this with Pay The Piper, who was second to a very promising horse in Primoz at Wetherby last week. On that form, he’s the one to beat.
OKAVANGO DELTA (2.45) is back out again after also making his seasonal return at Hexham a fortnight ago. Going to the last fence there I thought he’d win, but he possibly found himself in front too soon and ended up finishing a close fourth.
He’s come out of the race well and is ready to go again. He’s another I rode myself in a gallop this week. He feels very fit and very fresh. Certainly a bit more so than his trainer does when the alarm goes off long before dawn every morning!
Craig Nichol rides both. Best of luck to owners Thomas & Robson and the One For The Road Flower syndicate.
Cheers,
Paul