Andrew Asquith returns with his all-weather column and has more horses to add to your tracker.
It’s been a fairly quiet week on the all-weather front, but Kylian continued his excellent run of form when winning again at Wolverhampton on Saturday evening. It was another narrow success, but that took his form figures on the all-weather to 11211, and even more noteworthy is the array of tracks he’s been successful at.
He’s now won at Newcastle, Lingfield and Wolverhampton, while his runner-up effort came at Southwell when he didn’t travel as fluently as normal, perhaps suggesting he wasn’t 100 percent on the day, as a tapeta surface clearly doesn’t bother him.
Kylian is clearly thriving at present, beating a couple of other in-form sorts, and how he keeps getting the job done means the handicapper can’t raise him too much in the weights. He tracked the pace at Wolverhampton and got a lovely seam between the eventual second and third in the straight, but he still went through to record a narrow success, and he’s only been raised 1lb in the weights since.
His two most impressive wins on the all-weather have come at Newcastle, which bodes well for his options on Good Friday for Finals Day. Connections now have the option of going to Trials Day at Lingfield at the end of February, or perhaps waiting for Finals Day itself, as he has gone well after a short break before. Either way, he’ll remain a horse to be interested in on the all-weather wherever he turns up next.
Rebel’s Gamble looks another horse to follow on the all-weather. He was easy to back on his debut at Southwell earlier this month, but he looked a good prospect in beating his main market rivals with something in hand, just kept up to his work in the final stages, and the third has boosted that form by winning next time.
Rebel’s Gamble was shorter in the betting when following up under a penalty at Newcastle last week, though, producing an impressive performance as he stretched five and a half lengths clear of his main market rival who he was conceding 7lb to.
It wasn’t a great race in behind, but the runner-up arrived with potential too, so for him to easily stretch clear in the closing stages marks him out as a smart prospect. Connections now have options with Rebel’s Gamble, they can keep him going on the all-weather, or wait for the turf season.
The sprint handicap for three-year-olds on Finals Day at Newcastle on Good Friday looks an obvious target, though, and a mark of 95 which he’s been allotted looks quite attractive on what he achieved on the figures last week – he has a Timeform rating of 95p. He’s a brother to smart Nahaarr, who progressed right through the ranks for William Haggas, winning the Ayr Gold Cup in 2020, so there is also hope he’ll be a horse to follow when trying turf, too.
William Dewhirst is another horse to mention following his fifth win of the all-weather season. He has raced solely at Newcastle since resuming winning ways in November, recording four wins over seven furlongs, and proving the drop to six furlongs or step up in grade no problem last week.
Connections are now eyeing the All-Weather Horse of The Year Bonus with him and trainer Ben Haslam said: “When horses take to a track and grow in confidence, you find they can run up sequences – as once they are fit, you do not have to do much with them at home and it enables you to be on the front foot. They are going back to the same track each time, under very similar conditions. It makes it much easier to run up sequences than on the turf, when the variables are changing all the time.
“There is a seven-furlong 0-85 on February 14, which stands out as a primary target, while there is also five-furlong 0-82 next week that we could look at. Whether he would have the speed for five furlongs, I don’t know, but it is a race to consider if we have the All-Weather Bonus in the back of our minds.”
William Dewhirst will race from a 3lb higher mark next time and will definitely be a horse to consider if taking his option in the seven-furlong handicap in a couple of weeks.
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