Market Rasen Saturday review and free video replays

By Nick Seddon

Horse Racing

Sat July 22, 2023 · 1y ago

A review of the action from Saturday's meeting at Market Rasen where Harry Cobden rode a big double.

Famous win for Cobden

3/1 favourite Born Famous benefitted from a sensational ride by Harry Cobden to continue her remarkable upward curve and win the £55,000 Unibet Summer Plate Handicap Chase (2m 5½f) for trainer Iain Jardine at Market Rasen today, Unibet Summer Plate Ladies Day.

The six-year-old arrived at the Premier Handicap having won each of her four starts since joining Jardine’s Dumfries operation, though she looked to be struggling upped in grade here, quickly becoming detached from the field on the first circuit. However, Cobden kept his cool on Born Famous, who slowly began to build some momentum and improved through the field with a strong round of jumping.

The daughter of Famous Name still had plenty to do rounding the bend for home but she kept finding for Cobden, jumping to the front at the final fence and finding plenty to fend off the attentions of the Peter Bowen-trained Courtland by three quarters of a length.

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Speaking away from the racecourse, the winning trainer Iain Jardine said: “That was class and what a cool ride from Harry too. I knew he was going to take his time but I didn’t think he would take as much time as that! They obviously went quite quick and the rain has got into the ground and they’ve stopped, so it was a well-judged and a well thought out ride. She’s a grand filly on an upward curve and I’m just really chuffed for her owners (Castle Racing Scotland). It’s a fantastic result.

“I’m not sure what’s clicked with her, she’s just gained that bit of confidence and is enjoying her races. We’ve been training her away quietly and we’re not too hard on her, so it’s probably a combination of that.

“She can jump. She’s very versatile regarding ground and she can’t half jump. It was some ride from Harry though, Conor O’Farrell our jockey had a word with him earlier and he just said it doesn’t really matter how she’s ridden, it’s all about getting her into a rhythm.

“She was in a good rhythm and finished well, so it’s an excellent result. We’ll sit tight with her now - we might have a look at something down the line but she doesn’t owe us anything.”

Meanwhile, the winning jockey Harry Cobden admitted that the mare had left him with an uphill task after the first circuit but revealed that she grew in confidence as the race went on.

He said: “There probably wouldn’t have been a word said (if he’d have pulled the mare up at the half-way stage). I spoke to Iain beforehand and Conor O'Farrell who normally rides her.

“He’s dislocated his shoulder unfortunately, but he filled me with confidence, Iain wasn’t quite sure how well she’d travel stepping back into this grade.

“We were off the bridle early and I got slightly detached but her jumping kept her in it. I actually knew half-way down the back that I’d win because I had so much in the tank and she was jumping past horses with ease. She never missed a beat.

“It’s a tremendous prize and she was obviously very well-handicapped when they got their hands on her. She’s progressed and progressed and it’s a job well done from the whole team up there.”

Friendly completes double

It proved to be an outstanding afternoon for Cobden, who earlier won the £45,000 Unibets Zero% Mission Summer Handicap Hurdle on the card with Too Friendly (11/2), initiating a 25/1 double. That victory came for trainer James Owen, who picked up the biggest win of his training career to date in the process.

Owen, who was crowned UK champion trainer five times by the Arabian Racing Organisation, runs a pre-training service in Newmarket and saddled his first runner under Rules in December.

And he rarely looked to have a moment of worry with the five year old, who sat prominently throughout and powered clear after the final flight for a length and a half success – much to his delight.

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The trainer said: “That was sweet. That’s winner number nine and it’s our biggest by far. The horse has been good to us, we just got beat last time at Cartmel but he ran a cracker. He looked at the crowd and it was probably my fault giving Brian (Hughes) the wrong instructions, but we learned a lot from that.

“We rode him a little differently today, just having him handy and he settled lovely. He’s travelled through the race lovely and battled well I thought, he’s still only five and he’s had a hard campaign.

“We might just give him a little break now and come again at the end of the summer – there might be something else for him. Mentally he’s improved every race, he needs his headgear and he gets warm, but the key is he’s settling in his races and he’s enjoying it. He went up for his run at Cartmel and we thought that might have snookered him today but he’s handled the race well. He’s got a bit of a knee action and Camelots can handle a bit of cut.

“We love the training and its actually gone a lot better than I thought. We’ve got 10 horses and I’ve just raised that to 12. I probably will look to get to 20, but pre-training is my business and it’s given us a chance to do this. It lets us have a bit of fun alongside and we’re really enjoying it.”

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