Captain Quint limbering up on a frosty morning
TWO runners at Carlisle tomorrow and two very competitive races. First up will be CAPTAIN QUINT (2.45) in a 15-runner handicap chase over two-and-a-half miles. Ideally we’d want him starting off in a smaller field but he’s ready to go and we know Carlisle is a good track for him. He ran well in the Go North final here back in March, and was a bit unlucky finishing fourth after making a mistake at the bottom of the hill. The ground is good to soft, which is ideal for him so we’re hoping it stays that way.
He’s a lovely horse who we hope to run well but it’s going to be a really hotly-contested race which will take some winning off top weight. We think a lot of him and he had a good season as a novice last year. I’d put a line through his Perth run in the spring, that was my fault because I had planned to turn him away after Carlisle but decided to have another go in April and it was the wrong thing to do. Hopefully we’ll see him to far better effect around Carlisle this week. He won first time up last season so we hope he'll run well here after his summer break.
Here Comes The Man (second)
HERE COMES THE MAN (4.30) tackles the 3m2f novice handicap chase later in the day. He had a lovely win at Newcastle in April and then struggled at Perth a few weeks later. Hands up, that was the trainer’s fault again because it was a far too quick turnaround at the wrong track and on the wrong ground for him, so we can put that down as a lesson learned. The test at Carlisle will be more to his liking, and although it is his first run for a while in a competitive race, he’s a talented horse on his day and his mark of 111 is fair.
He wants ground as deep as it can get, so the ideal scenario is the rain stays away until after Captain Quint’s race then pours down! We’d love to get a winner on the board but it’s a competitive day’s racing so we’ll have to see.