Introduction
De Little Engine makes it our tenth win for 2019, under both flat and jumps. The horses have run well this week with a furthersix top four finishes on top of Engine’s win, and we are just short of breaking £100,000 for 2019.
Round Up of runners
Fourteen runners were sent out this week, ten on the flat and four over jumps. Of those we saw a good return with half of which finishing in the top four.
De Little Engine got a well deserved victory to right a huge wrong, when his win was stolen from him on the line at Wolverhampton last month by winning at Brighton. This marked another occasion as it was Rossa Ryan’s 100th ride for us and it was great to cement this in such a way. This was his only his second start on turf and he won in commanding style, taking it up from the mid-way point to be pushed out to the line with a little to spare. This performance opens up so many doors for Engine, since this proves he can perform on both surfaces and so doubles the number of races we can be confident that he can run in.
Rogue’s long awaited debut finally arrived, though the performance was sadly marred by a nasty incident towards the end of the race. Even though we were fortunate to inherit third place, it was a more than encouraging performance. At home we know he has speed, as he has demonstrated it more than once on the gallops, but you are always keen to see how this can be turned into results on the course. Finishing 1 ¾ lengths down was a solid performance, he shaped up well approaching the final 2 furlongs but wasn’t able to quicken and so just lost out at the end. All said this performance bodes well for the future.
The ever consistent Cry Wolf finished yet again in the top four, with a solid fourth at Bath. It was slightly unusual to see him upset in the stalls, though this wasn’t helped by the runner beside him being withdrawn. He came to challenge well with 2 furlongs to go, but couldn’t quite sustain that in his final furlong. I keep saying it, but he really has been a superb purchase and continues to run with credit.
Gang Warfare had a tough task at Southwell to defy top weight, ultimately just getting the better of him. Distress flairs started to appear half a mile out, but Gang stuck to the task at hand to make sure he beat a third of the field to be sixth.
Waqt was looking to make a return to winning ways back at Wolverhampton. It was frustrating to lose third on the line, but he was in the right place towards the front the whole way and so finishing in the places was a step back in the right direction.
However, in the jumps scene it was a week full of promise. Polo the Mumm looked to have done enough at Fontwellwhen approaching the second last, but could not quite pick up to put the race to bed and so had to settle for second place. This was Polo’s third run at Fontwell, and it was the third time that he has run out of petrol on the climb to the line. Fontwellhas a stiff uphill finish and so some horses love it, whilst others detest it. Polo was unfortunately taken on too soon, resulting in him as the racing post put it not seen at his best due to doing a lot in the middle of the race with the winner coming from off the pace.
Broke away on just her second start in handicap company, posted a marvellous performance bringing home a third from Taunton. She just wasn’t quite as fluent as the others two out, making a small mistake that I wouldn’t go as far to say that cost her the win, but would have put us closer. She will continue to run through the summer and hopefully put more of these performances on paper.
Statistical Summary
Jumps 18/19
Earnings - £95,959
Wins - 8
Top 4 finishes – 55/158 (34.81%)
Flat 19
Earnings - £74,398
Wins – 9
Top 4 finishes –37/102 (36.27%)
Total 2019
Earnings - £98,010.33
Wins - 10
Top 4 finishes – 54/158 (34.18%)