John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Friday.
Promising novice hurdlers clash at Newbury
Conditions are forecast to be testing for Newbury’s card where fields are on the small side but there’s a fascinating novice hurdle at 15:58. Horaces Pearl puts his unbeaten record on the line for the in-form Fergal O’Brien and with his ‘large P’ symbol looks capable of improving significantly upon his hurdling debut when making short work of ordinary rivals at Huntingdon in November.
Prior to that, Horaces Pearl had won his three bumpers last season, completing his hat-trick in the Grade 2 at Aintree when beating stablemate Tripoli Flyer. The latter has taken really well to hurdles himself, completing a hat-trick in the Dovecote at Kempton last Saturday, and Horaces Pearl has the potential to prove above average over hurdles too.
But Horaces Pearl’s stamina will be tested to the full as he steps up to two and a half miles for the first time and he’s up against a proven stayer and another good prospect in Olly Murphy’s Albert Bartlett entry Pierrot Jaguen. An expensive purchase after winning his only start in Irish points, Pierrot Jaguen was clearly well fancied for his hurdling debut at Cheltenham when finishing third on New Year’s Day. Stepped up to nearly three miles at Lingfield next time, Pierrot Jaguen made the most of a much simpler task when winning with plenty in hand and earning the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag. Although back in distance here, the forecast heavy ground will make this a good test and he’s taken to outstay his chief rival.
Fox looks Fantastic for in-form Roger Varian
It’s All-Weather Championships Trials Day at Lingfield, with a card of competitive and valuable handicaps whose winners will get free entry into the corresponding race on Finals day at Newcastle, as well as a bonus if successful there.
Roger Varian has the ‘Hot Trainer’ flag after a successful month for his all-weather team which has yielded five winners from seventeen runners in February for a strike-rate of 29.4%. Those winners include the smart Tyrrhenian Sea who was successful at Lingfield in a listed event. Both of Varian’s runners on Lingfield’s Friday card have claims, with course winner Dragon Icon having another try over a mile and a quarter at 16:45.
However, stablemate Fantastic Fox looks the one to beat in the final contest over a mile (17:20). Fantastic Fox won three times on the all-weather last winter, twice under today’s jockey Aidan Keeley. The last of those wins came when getting the better of Talis Evolvere over this course and distance before he finished third to the same rival – who takes him on again here – on All-Weather Finals day at Newcastle. Fantastic Fox has shaped well on both his all-weather starts this winter, including when a staying-on second to Storm Star at Newcastle last month when having Dragon Icon just behind him. A win here will set him up nicely for a return to Newcastle but he also holds an entry in next month’s Lincoln.
San Andreas’ Dundalk record hard to fault
The most interesting race on Dundalk’s evening card is the conditions race over an extended ten furlongs (18:30) in which Adrian Murray is doubly represented by the Amo Racing pair Dallas Star and Persian Bliss. Murray had a double at Dundalk last Friday, and with seven winners is the track’s leading trainer since the start of the year. Two of those wins have come from the useful Persian Bliss but as his latest success came in a handicap over two miles this will be a very different test.
Stablemate Dallas Star has an interesting profile given that he caused a 50/1 shock in the Ballysax Stakes on his reappearance last season but he hasn’t been seen since finishing well beaten in the Derby, so is on the comeback trail here.
This could therefore be another chance for Joseph O’Brien’s course regular San Andreas, top on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings, to notch another win. Although much the senior runner at the age of nine, he retains a useful level of ability as he showed when winning a couple of handicaps late last year. That brought his total of victories at Dundalk to eight from 29 starts at the track and his latest run here can easily be overlooked as he wasn’t given too hard a race over an inadequate seven furlongs. Apprentice-ridden more often than not, San Andreas is partnered for the second time by Julian Pietropaolo who is good value for his 7 lb claim and went close over course and distance on his only previous ride on San Andreas last November.
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