Johnny Hancocks will take his chance off a low weight in a valuable nursery handicap at Thirsk tomorrow. He looks up against it with the likes of the Barry Hills trained Face The Problem in opposition. The Sir Alex Ferguson owned colt is held in high regard and thought of as possibly better than a handicapper. Johnny has early pace, is best suited to quick ground and a sharp 5 furlongs, if he comes out of this race well he could go to Brighton on Wednesday. Sumner has been declared for a 1m4f handicap at Carlisle and PJ Mcdonald is booked to ride. Back refreshed from a great holiday in Croatia. Having never been to the country before I was not sure what to expect but it definitely was a place to recommend to anyone who wants a relaxing holiday with great weather. We were on the island of Hvar, which has a wonderful buzz about the place in to the early hours with plenty of people watching around the harbour. Today, we have War and Peace in the apprentice race at Sandown Park. The race looks particularly competitive with Annes Rocket sure to be at the head of the market after a luckless run at the course last week when it really ought to have won, however Matthew Cosham who won on our horse at Salisbury takes over in the saddle and we are hopeful of a decent run. It is likely that Sumner and Johnny Hancocks will run in the next 7-10 days , both horses have one or two options and an eye on the weather will be required before a decision is made to where they go. William Haigh is getting nearer to making a racecourse debut, it is felt he will benefit from starting at a mile so we will be looking at those races from mid-August. It is good to see the two year olds from the Swinbank yard starting to perform with credit. After a promising run at Redcar last week, Johnny Hancocks was dropped in grade to a seller at Catterick yesterday to help get some confidence. Cathy Gannon managed to get a superb jump from the stalls and was well in command from a very early stage and drew further clear to win by 6 lengths. It is hoped that given similar fast conditions and a sharp track he will manage to win a Nursery Handicap before the summer is over. Tomorrow , a few members will be popping along to Southwell Beach for an evening's racing where Sumner takes part in the stayers event at 8.10. Sorry Southwell, but I do think it resembeles a beach when racing during a warm dry spell in the summer. Sumner has been disappointing to date and as a result runs off a career low mark, whether he will act on the surface as always is an unknown variable but we felt it was worth a try as he is trained locally.
Johnny Hancocks runs at Catterick tomorrow in a Selling Stakes event after a bold run from the front in a nursery handicap at Redcar last week. It will be disappointing if he cannot go close in this race.
War and Peace ran well in third at Haydock on Saturday in a race that was not run to suit. He has come out of the race well and will probably go to Chester on Friday night, Another day without World Cup Football, not sure whether it is a good thing or not, somehow the whole thing does not seem as exciting as it was in years gone by. Perhaps it goes on just a little too long with too many participants. I know that once I had seen North Korea and Honduras once that it was probably enough and I am sure that three viewings on terrestrial television was far too much, especially when you consider the amount of good quality sport that is not available for everyone to view freely. The first World Cup I watched was 1970 in Mexico when Brazil were great to watch and beat Italy 4-1 in the final. Forty years on I feel the outcome might well be the same but not sure the style will be so pleasing, we will watch and hope. July 1st sees the beginning of the nursery handicap season for two year olds and Redcar stages two in one day surely a little strange in itself. Johnny Hancocks takes his chance in the 5f handicap at 7.45 and conditions appear to be right for him and we will find out whether he is fairly handicapped. It is difficult for lower weighted horses in these races on fast conditions as the allowance of weight never seems to make up for the shortfall in speed. Cathy Gannon rides him for the first time and we would be hopeful of making the frame. War and Peace has been declared for Haydock park on Saturday afternoon and if he gets more luck than he had at Chester on Friday when he was stopped twice in the straight he ought to run a decent race. Sumner has been entered at Southwell on Tuesday evening. |
