Firstly a quick look back at The Reverend – absolutely smashed in from 9/2 into 2/1 but was never travelling before staying on at one pace to finish 5th. It had worked very well at home.
The obvious comment was the ground was too fast but I am of the opinion that this is a horse to avoid in future as he looked a very difficult ride and was pulling off a slow pace without moving forward and then started to hang as soon as Tom put it under pressure. Fortunately, we only had half the potential stake but it is still not pleasant backing a horse that is not keen to race – I won’t back it again even on softer ground.
Onto Thursday – we steered clear of Merchant on seasonal debut at the Newmarket Guineas meeting backed from 9/4 into 10/11 the money was left behind as he was not ready first time out despite a good handicap mark.
It is a tip in itself that he is back in action, up in trip, just 9 days later. The one thing he did prove at Newmarket was his ability to handle fast ground and he can get back the losses his many supporters suffered by winning the closing race at York the 5.25 on Day 2 of the Dante meeting.
His main rival is the Ralph Beckett trained Anniversary who is unexposed but has to overcome a remarkable statistic – Ralph Beckett has sent 26 runners to contest handicaps at the Dante meeting without having a single winner and of the 26 only 3 have been placed.
The ground shouldn’t be a problem and the gelding will need every yard of this trip, and I expect Rossa Ryan to set the fractions but 93 is a hefty enough opening handicap mark and he is vulnerable to a horse with more speed.
The Roger Varian trained Rahiebb is next in the betting off a mark of 90 but he got collared by the Haggas trained Opportunity at Haydock who is useful but needed the run first time out.
Although only 8 go to post but I am confident they will go a good pace and set the race up for Merchant who should have too much speed from his good handicap mark of 82 which was the reason for the hefty support at Newmarket.
3pt win Merchant 5.25 York Thursday.
The yard send one runner to Salisbury where Arabian Force heads for what should be a straight shoot out with the Andrew Balding trained Gladius.
The Haggas colt won well at Wetherby but Gladius showed a stunning turn of foot to win on his debut at Kempton and is difficult to oppose.
Arabian Force 4.03 Salisbury No Bet
On Kempton’s AW card the Haggas trained Day of Grace debuts in the Novice stakes at 7.05 and a watching brief is advised.
But of considerably more interest is the seasonal reappearance of the Ralph Beckett trained Dash of Azure in the 8.00 at Kempton.
This is a filly i have been waiting to back but the yards fillies have ran poorly in recent days and i will watch and hope she runs with promise without winning.
Chrysalis Consortium 
Leave a comment