I am a bit of a Victor Dartnall fan so tomorrows selection may be tinged with just a little favourtism but the bare facts are that if HENRY KING is fit enough and retains most of his ability then he can certainly take the 4.00 Sandown tomorrow. When last seen this horse won a 2m 4f Taunton Novice Hurdle by nine lengths from some decent types in Merehead and Romulus Dartaix. He reappears tomorrow off 2lb lower than he was rated before that win so in my book is roughly a stone well in. Thats a decent amount but not huge considering his near two year lay off but at odds of 14-1 I think he is well worth taking a chance on. Jack Doyle takes the ride so he wont be lacking assistance. Another positive for me is that he won his bumper on his debut so has gone in first time up before. Incidentally the horse he thumped by five lengths that day was Pepe Simo, thats a very decent level of form. HENRY KING 14-1 4.00 Sandown
This is getting ridiculous Stick. In the process of a write up for this one! It was a Novice Hurdle he won under a penalty as opposed to a handicap though.
LOL ROTO, had realised the errors of my ways whenwatching the last run and was rewriting. His formbook is most impressive. Dartnall felt he was good enough to contest a Cheltenham Festival bumper and a Greatwood Hurdle. If he is right then he would win this doing cartwheels IMO, by far the most interesting entrant anywhere tomorrow!
Yeah hugely interesting indeed. Had a look back through Dartnall's horses to see if he's had success readying anything after a break anywhere near this long before and he's done it on more than one occasion in the past.
One very interesting horse makes his racing debut for Nicky Henderson tomorrow. In the 5pm at Sandown ACT FOUR runs in what looks a nice bumper and I was very surprised to see him trading around the 9/2 mark on the exchanges tonight. Nicky Henderson paid £60,000 at the sales for him, going out of his way to pick up this full brother to Mono Man. There have been some very positive gallop reports, and with his full brother winning a warm bumper event on his debut, I think Act Four will also show up boldly on his opening outing for the yard. The market speaks favourably of Paul Nicholls MORITO DU BERLAIS and of course that is a concern, especially a Paul Nicholls bumper runner being hammered like that, but I wonder if the stiff Sandown finish will play to his strengths against a stoutly bred sort in Act Four. Henderson has taken his time with him and I think has waited for the better ground, so I suspect this will be a warm bumper with the powerful yards unleashing some nicely bred bumper sorts on the better ground.
4.00 Sandown Henry King 14/1 NAP Despite having to overcome an absence of 722 days, if fully wound up for this run and maintaining his ability then I think Victor Dartnall's 9 year old has a tremendous chance of landing this handicap off a mark of 120. Back in November 2008, Henry King was an extremely impressive winner of a Bumper at Newbury when running out a very easy winner by 5L from some very useful sorts. Such was his immense promise, he was sent off a 20/1 shot for the Champion Bumper in 2009 and despite finishing eased he had shaped very promisingly as he sweeped around a lot of horses despite pulling hard for much of the race (which would turn out to be a major issue for a lot of his early career). On the back of a 7 month absence, Henry King made an extremely promising debut over hurdles over 2m at Wincanton in October 2009 when going down by 1.5L to Pepe Simo - a horse he had comfortably beaten into 2nd place when winning his debut bumper. Refusing to settle under Timmy Murphy, Henry King made stylish progress through the well strung out field to be delivered excellently by his very talented jockey and both he and the winner were level going over the last. Henry King still looked a bit green as he ran around a bit and when level the pair bumped which looked to have cost Dartnall's representative some momentum but he lost very little in defeat. The form of that race has worked out extremely well with the winner Pepe Simo winning his next two starts over timber and who is now a 140 rated hurdler whilst the 3rd The Rainbow Hunter has turned out to be a very talented chaser. Given that the winner is a 2m specialist and Henry King is clearly a better horse over further, I think it made his narrow defeat even more impressive and, at the time, it was clear Victor Dartnall had a horse with immense ability on his hand. Henry King's 2nd start came in a Maiden Hurdle at Newbury in November 2009 where he fell when still going well and upsides at the 2nd last. Once again, Henry King refused to settle and actually pulled himself through the field to sit just off the pace and it wasn't until 4f out when Murphy was making his move and relinquished some reins that he stopped pulling. If he hadn't fallen, I definitely feel Henry King would have been in the first 3 home and it was another very hot race he was running in. The impressive winner Belvano impressed in his brief hurdling career before turning into an excellent chaser who won last years Grand Annual whilst the 3rd Tocca Ferro won two Listed Handicaps over hurdles on his final two starts when last seen in 2010 and, given that I am sure he would have finished amongst the places, it again emphasises the talent of Henry King. Off for a few months after that very heavy fall, Henry King was disappointing when sent off favourite in February 2010 but you can put a line through that effort as he didn't handle the heavy ground. After this race, Henry King made his handicap debut off a mark of 116 at Newbury in March of that year when he again fell at 2 out (was beaten this time) but he had pulled his chances away.Henry King took the summer off again when he made his chasing debut in a handicap off a mark of 114 when pulled up but the soft ground and pulling were to blame. At the 8th time of asking in a first time tongue tie, Henry King belatedly shed his Maiden tag in a handicap off a mark of 114 when connections finally resolved the massive issue of his inability to settle as they sent him from the front over 17f at Taunton in January 2011. From pillar to post, Henry King's tendency to pull was eradicated and he showed great battling quality to score ny 0.5L when strongly pressed up the run. Having searched back through the archives, I found a very interesting quote from Dartnall after this win which was "the only reason he won at a tight track like Taunton was because he was so well handicapped" and that can only be viewed in a positive light. 3 weeks later Henry King was a little disappointing over the same C+D when employing the same tactics when upped 9lb to a mark of 123 but his final start in March 2011 was by far his most impressive performance over hurdles to date and he finally looked as if he was fulfilling the immense potential he looked to possess. In a Novice Hurdle at Taunton when the only horse in the race to carry a penalty, the step up to 2m4f - the first time he went further than 17f in his career - improved Henry King massively as he again made all to score by 9L in very impressive fashion. Travelling well throughout the contest, Denis O'Regan gently asked his mount to quicken up and Henry King did so in style to finish a very easy winner. The form of that race looks strong, with the runner up (who received 7lb from the winner) Merehead landing a competitive handicap at Ascot off a mark of 115 on what has turned out to be his only subsequent start in a race where the 3rd Battonier went on to score in a Grade 2 a couple of months later. Based on Dartnall's earlier comments about Taunton not suiting, I think you can upgrade that performance and its a shame that he has been sidelined since that victory (you can only presume it was an injury). With regards tomorrows contest, Henry King races off a mark of 120 and based on his last success and early form over hurdles I feel he is clearly a very well handicapped horse if retaining his ability. He races over 2m4f tomorrow which transformed his performance when stepping up to this distance on his last start and he is clearly a much, much better horse over further than 2m. Sandown's galloping track and uphill finish should suit him ideally as well and I've no issue about him shouldering top weight as his two victories were when carrying 11-9 and 11-11 so he is clearly a horse that carries weight well. Its a shame he's had such an interrupted career but at 9 years of age he should still hold most (if not all) of his ability and it would be fantastic for connections if he can show the same form of old. Jack Doyle, who has a good record for Dartnall, takes the ride on what is his sole engagement and the trainer has a very good 5-27 record at the track. The main issue has to be his fitness after pretty much 2 years off the track but given that he won on his debut and ran very well on the back of a 7 month absence on hurdling debut he has certainly demonstrated he can go well fresh in the past. In addition, after looking back through Dartnall's horses he seems pretty adept at readying horses on the back of breaks which is a huge positive when looking at Henry King's readiness. Another small concern I have is Sandown's current going of Soft (Good; good to soft in places in the back straight) as Dartnall has stated before that he wouldn't want any worse than Good to Soft and I'd say there is a very strong chance that Henry King has been ready to run for quite a while and his trainer has been waiting all season for better ground. I'm sure connections haven't persevered with him for 2 years to run him on unsuitable ground and I'm sure he'll be pulled if the ground is deemed unsuitable. However, I'm hoping the ground dries out a bit tomorrow and given that the chase course is currently Good to soft; Good in places I think there is a fair chance of that happening. Another concern is that in August last year Dartnall said Henry King would go Novice Chasing this year but I'm hoping its too late now in the season for that or else connections are looking to exploit what looks a lenient handicap mark over timber. Victor Dartnall has his horses in pretty good order at the moment and there is no doubt in my mind that, if fit, he will win this race tomorrow but of course that is a huge 'if'. Completely unexposed at this sort of trip which he will relish, my gut is telling me that Henry King will be fit to do himself justice tomorrow and hopefully this 9 year old grey rewards his very patient connections with what would be a very well deserved win at a nice price.
2.40 Warwick Riddlestown 33/1 Only worth very small stakes as he could be an absolute no show but I'm quite intrigued by Caroline Fryer's 6 year old Riddlestown. Formerly not showing much into two starts for Michael Hourigan in Ireland, Riddlestown was picked up for £7,500 in June last year before joining current connections and although form figures don't read fantastic I think this gelding has shaped extremely well on a number of occasions without finding much. He made an eye catching hurdling debut over 2m4f at Folkestone on soft ground back in December when he travelled up very well along way and was still cruising as he cruised up 1L behind the leaders on the outside at 2 out (quite a way from the finish) but he found absolutely nothing when asked by Harry Skelton and finished 17L beaten 6th. The horse who finished directly in front of him was beaten less than 3L off a mark of 106 on his next start whilst the horse behind him Shuh Shuh Gah was beaten a short head on that ones next start and to be fair it was a hurdling debut that was full of promise. Riddlestown's next start came a month later when finishing a 41L beaten 2nd at the same track over 2m where he again shaped well. Apart from the easy winner, this gelding travelled by far the best of the remainder before it looked like he emptied very quickly before falling back to a distant 3rd. However, he rallied up the run in to snatch 2nd from a couple of well touted horses (both been disappointing subsequently) and it showed he does find off the bridle. Two starts back he ran as well as could be expected in a Jumpers Bumper before his final start 2 weeks ago on his handicap debut. Off a mark of 97 over 2m5f at Kempton, Riddlestown was held up in the rear of the field and he made some nice headway still travelling well to latch behind the main group before 3 out but again he found zilch and finished tailed off. He's been dropped to a mark of 95 and considering that he has shaped so well on a few starts I do think he's a horse that could win off this sort of mark. However, I get the distinct feeling that there is some sort of issue with him and hopefully his trainer knows what that is. The step back to 2m looks very interesting and in these hands and heels handicaps I always like to have horses who travel very well because it can be very hard to make up ground with young riders unable to use their whips. Niko De Boinville is a very eye catching booking as surely he could have had his pick of a few rides in this race and there has been a tiny bit of money for him tonight which is definitely a positive. Caroline Fryer, who has had 1 winner and 5 places under rules from 25 runners, is more renowned as a Point To Point trainer and had a winner in that sphere the other day so she looks to have her horses in good order. Could be a complete and utter flop but worth a small few quid at a big price.
RIDDLESTOWN haha thats funny............NASS, are you gonna tell him or am I? OK, the pair of you have convinced me to risk a cheeky tenner each way LOL
Lovely looking bumper at Sandown today with the Henderson, Nicholls and King yards sending out beautifully-bred newcomers against the Pipe/Johnson horse, Doctor Harper, who won well on debut and is quietly fancied for the Champion Bumper. Morito Du Berlais, who gets the 4YO allowance and has Ruby up top, is by Turgeon (sire of Exotic Dancer and Chapoturgeon) out of a Cadoudal mare, stout breeding which should see him make up into a lovely staying chaser one day. Alan King's gelding Fine Words is by Alflora and is therefore likely to go well in the soft ground. But the one I like best is Mr Henderson's Act Four, a full brother to the yard's dual bumper winner Mono Man. This one could possibly be Henderson's main hope for the Champion Bumper and is sure to know his business today. Very difficult to win a bumper with a penalty so I fancy Act Four to get the better of Doctor Harper today. Edit: Just read Toppy's post on the same subject, must read thread before posting in future So change that to "fully agree with Toppy on Act Four"
You tell him stick, you can use the text I sent!! Mon Mome at 13/2 is my nap, ridiculously well handicapped and showed a good deal more at Wincanton before jumping poorly at two out. This is much weaker and I think he will love the jumping test of Warwick in comparison to Wincanton. I think he is on a very fair mark after that performance. I have also had a nibble at 33s on the horse I won't mention, might be accused of pilfering again
Morning all, I see that BALLYNAGOUR'S price in the 3.50 War has been smashed into from opening quotes of 8/1 now down to a little as 9/4. Wandering if GALLOP may have any news regarding this ones chances. Earlier in the afternoon i fancy CAMADOIR in the 3.05 Ling back down to 6F. Ran well last time out over 7F from an outside draw but in the closing stages faded to finish 3rd less than 2 lengths. Better draw today back down in trip i think a least a place for this one. Around 8/1. Good luck all today.
Just seen the most exciting entry of the year tomorrow. Can't say anything until those final decs are out but I've been waiting for this for ****ing ages, in fact they may have read my posts
They will have to go some to beat TARADREWE in this bumper. Its not often you see a bumper horse contesting a race that it has already won. It makes me think that Honeyball has one of the listed mares races up his sleeve for her, in which case she looks a pretty good thing here at a tasty 11-4.
Mick, the horse has been backed from 8-1 in to 9-4 so with all due respect what the **** do you want to hear from Gallop??? Interestingly Chester makes no reference to the horse on the yards daily bulletin...........a sure sign that skulduggery is afoot!!!!!
Stick, the reason why i asked is that Gallop puts up quite a few Pipe runners as i think he does get news from the yard. Personally i think that the other Pipe runner has a better chance. How many times do we see this happen that one of the yards horses gets backed off the boards only to see the other one hose up. We will see.
Two little pieces of info for today that have come to my big ears. The Hill yard quietly fancy their runner ROYAL ETQUETTE 1.30 Lingfield and the Oliver Sherwood yard are very keen to win the race named after their wonderful chaser Erics Charm with CIRCUS OF DREAMS 4.30 Sandown.
