Reflections on Haydock yesterday
Shades of Midnight
was a very tired horse when he refused at the last
in the novices' chase at Haydock yesterday. Drying, heavy ground always
tends to produce very difficult, holding conditions and the two finishers in
front of our gelding literally crawled over the last 2 fences
themselves.
During the race, Shades of Midnight was the least fluent of the three runners
and as a consequence lost ground after the 3rd fence and was chased along
to keep in contact from that point. Ironically, he was closing in on the
tiring leaders approaching the last, wouldn't have won but may have been
in with a shout of second place had he jumped.
He'll probably need some time to recover, but he would normally have an easy week after a race anyway.
Paper Roses runs at Catterick tomorrow
She's been running in handicap hurdles these past three runs, and finishing runner up each time, so the idea of a mares only novice hurdle has been in our minds for some time (genius, I know...). In theory, for a 116 rated maiden hurdler these type of events should present a slightly easier opportunity to get off the mark but whilst Paper Roses will be the one to beat, there are some promising horses in opposition.
Jamie Snowden sends up his Lingfield hurdle winner Kalahari Queen, who will surely be progressive on just her third start under Rules. John Quinn's Razed on Grazeon has been placed in all of her 7 races to date, but like our mare is still a maiden. She would be receiving 12lb from Paper Roses in a handicap. The Dapper Don's Banrion Scairp was beaten a neck on her sole Irish Point outing, and may need more experience before being competitive. Hirjan was a mile winner on the flat, and may have trouble seeing out 2 miles over hurdles whilst fellow flat performer England Expects will need to settle better than on hurdling debut here a couple of weeks ago.
Paper Roses does drop back in trip to 2 miles, but we go into the race with as good a chance as any.
Best of luck to Ron, Eileen and Ian - enjoy the day to the full!!
Paper Roses
