ALEX DUNN RACING WEEKLY REPORT (11th-17th April)

Introduction

After Polo the Mumms emphatic win last week, there were sadly no such results this time round. Thahab Ifraj made a return to the track after a short break and ran respectably whilst it was a tricky week on the flat.

Round Up of runners

Thahab Ifraj made his much anticipated debut over fenced and finished 5th after his short break. He has schooled very well at home, though there isn’t anything like jumping in a race to build up extra experience. He travelled well and looked to be on course for a place until he blundered badly 4 out and that sadly was the end of that. All said it was a sound performance to build on and a chase win looks a viable opportunity come the future.

De Little Engine and Hollander in my opinion both ran to a winning level at Wolverhampton and so there was something to take away from the race. DLE was drawn in stall 10 and he needs to take control of the middle sector of the race to achieve a win, thus when drawn so wide it was always going to be hard to get to the front and take control of the race. Hollander on the other hand was drawn further in, though just wasn’t quite able to get to the winner at the end. That said I come away from this race feeling confident for both their next runs.

News in Racing

Buck Magic who you may remember I trained a couple of years back has been retired by my brother John. He won the Members race at the Ludlow point to point by a comfortable 3 lengths on his first run of the season and being 13 years old, the decision was taken to retire him on a high. John uses him to round up the cows at home and he is really taking to his new life and soon he will be entered for some team chases as well as doing some hunting come the autumn. Happy retirement Buck!

Statistical Summary

Jumps 18/19

Earnings - £93,158

Wins - 8

Top 4 finishes – 52/154 (33.77%)

Flat 19

Earnings - £67,652

Wins – 8

Top 4 finishes –33/92 (35.87%)

Total 2019

            Earnings - £88,462

            Wins - 9

            Top 4 finishes – 47/144 (32.64%)

ALEX DUNN RACING WEEKLY REPORT (11th-17th April)

Introduction

After Polo the Mumms emphatic win last week, there were sadly no such results this time round. Thahab Ifraj made a return to the track after a short break and ran respectably whilst it was a tricky week on the flat.

Round Up of runners

Thahab Ifraj made his much anticipated debut over fenced and finished 5th after his short break. He has schooled very well at home, though there isn’t anything like jumping in a race to build up extra experience. He travelled well and looked to be on course for a place until he blundered badly 4 out and that sadly was the end of that. All said it was a sound performance to build on and a chase win looks a viable opportunity come the future.

De Little Engine and Hollander in my opinion both ran to a winning level at Wolverhampton and so there was something to take away from the race. DLE was drawn in stall 10 and he needs to take control of the middle sector of the race to achieve a win, thus when drawn so wide it was always going to be hard to get to the front and take control of the race. Hollander on the other hand was drawn further in, though just wasn’t quite able to get to the winner at the end. That said I come away from this race feeling confident for both their next runs.

News in Racing

Buck Magic who you may remember I trained a couple of years back has been retired by my brother John. He won the Members race at the Ludlow point to point by a comfortable 3 lengths on his first run of the season and being 13 years old, the decision was taken to retire him on a high. John uses him to round up the cows at home and he is really taking to his new life and soon he will be entered for some team chases as well as doing some hunting come the autumn. Happy retirement Buck!

Statistical Summary

Jumps 18/19

Earnings - £93,158

Wins - 8

Top 4 finishes – 52/154 (33.77%)

Flat 19

Earnings - £67,652

Wins – 8

Top 4 finishes –33/92 (35.87%)

Total 2019

            Earnings - £88,462

            Wins - 9

            Top 4 finishes – 47/144 (32.64%)

ALEX DUNN RACING WEEKLY REPORT (4th-10th April)

Introduction

It’s always a great weak when we have a winner at our local track, and that’s precisely what Polo the Mumm has gone and done at Taunton. Diamond Reflection went close on the flat and How About It won another point to point at the weekend and so now qualifies for the TIMICO final at Cheltenham. Whilst reflecting now on the National, we were given an absolute treat in seeing the first horse since Red Rum to win back to back Grand Nationals.

Round Up of runners

Polo the Mumm was the first runner of the week and won in commanding style at Taunton. George Welch’s racing post quote couldn’t have summed it up better, “he can be a bit unpredictable but he was certainly on a going day this time around. He got into a nice rhythm with his jumping and that has seen him through.” The new equipment we have installed at the yard has worked a particular treat on both Polo and How About It and so it will be intriguing to see if the effect carries on future horses.

Diamond Reflection benefited from the 7 pound claim of Amelia Glass and so was able to put in a much stronger challenge. The Dennis’ are involved in both Diamond and Polo and so have had a much deserved good week. Diamond came through the pack towards the end of the race, the same tactic as used by the winner, though we didn’t quite get as quick a passage was through the traffic as they did. However I would not go as far to say that this denied us the win but maybe half a length and so it was a very good run.

Waqt wasn’t able to follow up on his previous run with another winner, but the first 9 finished within 3 lengths of each other in a near enough blanket finish. He finished 6th and was in the lead approaching the final furlong marker but ultimately the field were just able to get to him and he was swallowed up on the line. The Eagles Nest finished a further ¾ length behind Waqt to be 7th and so both being beaten by less than 3 lengths was nothing to be ashamed of.

How About It won the Mens Open at Andoversford on the Sunday and so qualified for the Timico final at Cheltenham. He beat Premier Portrait by ½ a length, who you may remember won the Taunton Hunter Chase last year. He jumped off with the field and took up the lead 3 fences from home and holding on gamely to secure the win. As I mentioned earlier he has really come on this year and now has a Point To Point rating of 111, which would feature in the top 10% of point to point horses in the UK.

News in Racing

Tiger Roll became the first horse to win back to back Grand Nationals since Red Rum, and has now secured a place in eternal history. He has won a further 4 Cheltenham festival races and has to surely now be considered one of the greats of the sport.

Statistical Summary

Jumps 18/19

Earnings - £92,808

Wins - 8

Top 4 finishes – 52/153 (33.99%)

Flat 19

Earnings - £66,452

Wins – 8

Top 4 finishes –33/87 (37.93%)

Total 2019

            Earnings - £86,912

            Wins - 9

            Top 4 finishes – 47/138 (34.06%)

Polo the Mumm

How About It

ALEX DUNN RACING WEEKLY REPORT (28th March – 3rd April)

Introduction

A solid opening and close to the week, with Truckers Tangle going down by less than a length at Fontwell and Sigrid Nansen going down a slightly larger margin at Kempton. In the visit we passed our BHA inspection and Thahab Ifraj has been schooling really well over the fences, with Tulsa Jack and Shades of Silver also having a pop.

Round Up of runners

The start of the week did not go to plan as Micheal Nolan was booked to ride Truckers Tangle at Fontwell, but sadly had a fall on an earlier ride and so will spend a small amount of time out on the side lines. Get well soon Micheal!

Trucker ran another cracking race, but yet again ran into one just too good. He put in a game performance jumping to the lead from 2 out and just getting at the last, to go down 3 parts of a length at the line. This was his fourth second this season and so shows he clearly has promise yet just needs to catch a break at the races. So long as he keeps putting himself in these positions the win will come sooner or later.

Envole Toi jumped much better at Stratford yet he still maintains the tendency to remain careful over his fences. He has run 7 times this season, winning one and being placed twice and will probably tuck him away till next season knowing that we have a great horse come next season and are lucky to have him.

Tamby and Hannah Welch had a good tussle at Doncaster, with Tamby riding Punkawallah whilst Hannah took an outside ride, but missing out on the places. Hannah joins us for the summer now, whilst maintain her Fegentri commitments on her university placement, and hopefully there are some exciting times ahead.

We sent 2 runners on a long distance raid to Musselburgh on Tuesday, with Enmeshing running rather surprisingly, whilst the Mr Consistent Cry Wolf finished fourth and thus extending his impressive placing tally. He has won over £30,000 in prizemoney since joining in June, running 14 times and only missing out on a top 4 finish once, getting beat 2 lengths 6th.

The other 2 runners on Tuesday both finished 5th at Lingfield, being Claudine and Regulator. Claudine just weakened off towards the end, whilst Regulator kept on well from off the pace taking his 5th in a big field.

As I said, the week started with solid form and ended with it too in the form of two thirds. Gang Warfare rather surprised us a little bit coming on leaps and bounds for his run at Kempton. Sigrid Nansen suffered some interference at Kempton that didn’t help in her quest for her maiden win, but ran well none the less. She is pressing all the right buttons and sooner or later her win is bound to come.   

News in Racing

Grand National fever is picking up, not only in the towns and cities, but also in our yard too. Looking at the field, it would appear that there are 5 interesting ones to follow:

• Tiger Roll – Doesn’t need explaining
• Rathvinden – Has won over 4 miles and comes into the race fresh
• Ramses de Teillee – low weight and second in Welsh national this year
• Vintage Clouds – very good second since wind surgery at Cheltenham, stamina proven.
• Joe Farrell – bottom weight and winner of last year’s Scottish National

Best of luck to all runners and riders

Statistical Summary

Jumps 18/19

Earnings - £86,250

Wins - 7

Top 4 finishes – 51/148 (34.46%)

Flat 19

Earnings - £64,128

Wins – 8

Top 4 finishes –32/81 (39.51%)

Total 2019

            Earnings - £78,030

            Wins - 8

            Top 4 finishes – 45/127 (35.43%)