Kelso here we come

Our season starts here! I pinpointed this Kelso meeting several months ago, just after we’d agreed our move to Hazelrigg, as the first major target for some of our horses. Originally I thought we might have five or six making the short hop back across the border. While we’ve split up those horses, with some of them now pencilled in for Sedgefield and Hexham next week, I’m excited to have what I think can be two of our headline horses this season going there with good chances.

CAPTAIN QUINT (3.15) is in great form. He’s one of the horses we inherited from Rose Dobbin and it will be his first run for us here in the 3m2f handicap chase. I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can do over staying trips. It’s a 0-120, so he’s got top-weight of 12st, but from what I’ve seen of him, and in his work, I think he’s got the potential to be a better horse than his official mark suggests. Rose has been in to ride him a couple of times and she seems very happy with him, which is good to hear!

I’ve spoken to Kelso’s new clerk of the course James Armstrong and he reckons the ground will be riding on the soft side of good. If we get some rain before then, even better. Craig Nichol, who knows Quint well and has been in to school him recently, takes the ride.

Next up is BREIZH RIVER (3.50) in the Simply Ned Chase. It looks a very strong renewal, with last year’s winner Tommy’s Oscar running off an official mark of 157 – 5lb higher than 12 months ago – after he won a decent handicap at Ayr’s Scottish National meeting in April on his last start. With Traprain Law, whose owner Ray Green is sponsoring this race, and last-time-out winners Fringill Dike and Guy also lining up, it’s a mini-Grand Annual in all but name!

Our lad (pictured above) is 7lb out of the handicap as a result, which is far from ideal. But in some ways, I’m also not too bothered about it as he’s a young, upwardly-mobile chaser who I think has been fairly treated by the handicapper to this point. Listen, if he runs a really big race, or even wins, I know his mark is going to take a hammering. At the same time, he deserves to take his chance in a race as good as this and it’s on our doorstep. I think he’s a decent horse and his owners are just as keen as me to find out how good he is. Hopefully he’ll give Sean Quinlan a really good spin.

The key to this horse is to have him fresh. When he was beaten for the first time over fences at Uttoxeter in June (it was hardly a bad run, as he stayed on into a close third!), that was his seventh race in the space of four months. We gave him a break after that and he’s come back in absolutely bouncing. I’ve never had him as fit as he is just now and I’m really looking forward to getting him going again. He’ll probably have a fairly light campaign as he’s still only six, but hopefully this will be a launchpad to an exciting few months for him – and for us!

Cheers,

Paul