Wetherby Runners

A busy Boxing Day lies ahead with three runners at Wetherby, where the ground is currently soft and they have a dry few days forecast.

First up will be MOONLIGHT TRAIL (11.52) who was very, very novicey in her first run at Carlisle a few weeks back. She’s a far better horse than she showed that day, so this race will be all about getting her in amongst them, getting her jumping and giving her a decent education.

ATHAIR MOR (12.27) has really pleased us since we got him from James Ewart’s in the summer and he was hugely unlucky not to get his first win on the board over course and distance three weeks ago.

He ran a blinder and pulled a long way clear of the third horse, but was just pipped by The Jad Factor who was given a great never-say-die ride by Patrick Wadge.

Athair Mor showed he was still a bit green because it was the first time he’d hit the front and Ryan Mania felt he just pricked his ears a bit wondering what was going on. That’s not down to him being ungenuine or anything like that, it was just new to him and being quite young and babyish he didn’t know what to make of it!

That experience won’t be lost on him this time and we’re hopeful of a big run from him in this race. The handicapper has put him up 3lbs for the last day but this is a similar kind of assignment and we’d like to think he’ll be involved in the finish.

KING HORSE (3.20), above,  starts off his handicapping career after Carlisle, Musselburgh and Kelso since arriving at our yard. He’s been a bit novicey so far but we’ve been pleased with him.

He’s a chaser in the making and I did plan to start him off handicapping over fences, but we just couldn’t find a suitable race for him right now. He’s not going there with too much expectation on him because it won’t be until he’s chasing you’ll see the best of him but this will give us a good guide of where we stand.