Ayr Gold Cup winner Significantly is likely to sidestep a rise in grade at Ascot this weekend and instead wait for the Coral Sprint Trophy at York on Saturday week.
Revitalised by the Julie Camacho team, Significantly was agonisingly beaten in the Portland Handicap over five and a half furlongs at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting, but gained compensation seven days later at Ayr.
He almost missed out again there with Joe Fanning looking for a run with a furlong to go, but when the gap came he quickened up smartly.
While connections were tempted by a crack at the John Guest Racing Bengough Stakes, the fact he would be getting only 3lb from the likes of 113-rated Commanche Falls and the 110-rated Garrus leaves Significantly, still only on a handicap mark of 98, with plenty to find.
“He’s fit and well but I would imagine that unless the race cuts up badly, we’d wait a week and go to York,” said Steve Brown, Camacho’s husband and assistant.
“It just makes more sense to run in a handicap off his current mark. There are some good solid performers in at Ascot. We were entitled to enter and have a look but realistically we might just wait a week – and it’s worth more money.
“The other thing we might have been tempted to go to Ascot had the ground been softer but at the minute it looks like being a decent week weather-wise whereas he thrives when the ground is softer.
“I know there were one or two unlucky horses at Ayr but I think if we’d have got a run earlier he would have been a bit more of a clear-cut winner than he was.
“He’s thriving at home, his confidence levels are high. Karl (Burke, former trainer) always said he had a high level of ability and was a decent horse when he was younger, they are clever people and ran him in some big races, they don’t do that unless they think they are worthy.
“Last season was a quiet one for him, as any horse can havem but I think he’s back to the level he showed for Karl.”
Sheehan looking forward to another big weekend as ban overturned
Gavin Sheehan could be set for another Saturday in the spotlight having successfully appealed the 14-day ban he received at Huntingdon last month.
The 31-year-old was riding Lucy Wadham’s Zain Nights when the raceday stewards deemed the jockey failed to ask his mount for a “timely, real and substantial effort to obtain the best possible placing”.
Zain Nights and Wadham also incurred the wrath of the stewards with the gelding receiving a 40-day ban and his handler fined £3,000 for schooling and conditioning the horse on a racecourse.
However, at a hearing on Thursday an independent panel ruled in favour of both Sheehan and Wadham with their respective punishments quashed.
“It was something I didn’t think was ever going to happen, I felt the ride was good on the day and everything,” said Sheehan.
“But, it’s come this far and I’m delighted that we got the right result.”
The result of the hearing allows Sheehan the chance to build on the brilliant season he is enjoying alongside trainer Jamie Snowden and having partnered the Folly House handler’s Datsalrightgino to a famous Coral Gold Cup victory last weekend, has another pair of high-class operators waiting in the wings at Sandown.
The Irishman can now look forward to linking up with his Cheltenham Festival heroine You Wear It Well as she challenges Constitution Hill in the rearranged Fighting Fifth Hurdle, while he will also take the reins aboard highly-touted novice chaser Colonel Harry in the Betfair Henry VIII Novices’ Chase.
“Obviously I had a brilliant weekend last weekend and I’m now hoping for another one this weekend,” continued Sheehan.
“Things are going great and Jamie is definitely a trainer that is progressing and all it is is getting better horses. Better horses make life easier and he’s got them.
“It’s exciting that we’ve got Datsalrightgino who has just come out and won the Coral Gold Cup, but now we’ve got a contender for the Fighting Fifth and the Henry VIII.
“Things are going well and I know better than anyone that this game is a rollercoaster and things are going great now, but you can get put back down pretty quick.
“I’m just enjoying it at the moment, that’s what I’m trying to do, and trying to keep the ball rolling. You can’t take the foot off the gas now. Last week was brilliant, but that’s in the past now and I have got to look forward to my one ride tomorrow and doing my best on that and then look forward to Saturday.”
Jumping off the radar now for Murphy following Wincanton abandonment
Oisin Murphy still hopes to “one day” ride over hurdles – but following the abandonment of Wincanton on Thursday he has nothing lined up in the foreseeable future.
The three-times champion Flat jockey was due to have his first spin over obstacles aboard the Cian Collins-trained Lets Do This in the Danny McNab Bookmakers “National Hunt” Novices’ Handicap Hurdle at the Somerset track.
However, the fixture was called off following significant rain, with clerk of the course Daniel Cooper able to make a decision well ahead of the planned 8am inspection.
As part of his Flat commitments, Murphy is due to head for a stint in America on December 22.
“Unfortunately I don’t have any plans to ride over jumps after today. It will be difficult now with my schedule. One day!” said Murphy.
Cooper is also clerk at Exeter, where Friday’s planned card fell victim to a waterlogged track.
Sunday’s card at Huntingdon, which is scheduled to feature the Grade Two Peterborough Chase, is subject to a further precautionary inspection at 7.30am on Friday after passing an initial check on Thursday.
Friday’s Sedgefield card and Saturday’s meeting at Wetherby have both been lost to waterlogging, with the British Horseracing Authority adding an additional all-weather card at Wolverhampton on Sunday.
Ascot riches the Christmas aim for Hansard
A festive outing at Ascot is next on the agenda for Hansard following his coming-of-age victory at Newbury.
A bumper winner in Ireland for Charles O’Brien, the five-year-old was subsequently snapped up for 48,000 to join Noel Fehily Racing Syndicates and was sent to Gary Moore.
He won his first two starts over hurdles for his new connections last winter, finished fourth in a Grade One at Aintree in the spring and finished second to a race-fit Rubaud on his seasonal reappearance in the Elite Hurdle at Wincanton last month.
Making his handicap debut in the Gerry Feilden at Newbury, Hansard showed his class to get back on the winning trail and is now being readied for the £150,000 Betfair Exchange Trophy on December 23.
Fehily said: “We were delighted with Hansard in Newbury the other day. I think riding him for speed in a fast-run handicap suited him.
“We were probably a bit disappointed after Wincanton, but he hasn’t had that much racing and I think he’s just learning to settle and learning to do his job properly, hopefully.
“We’re looking towards Ascot with him just before Christmas.”
Another horse who will look to carry the colours of the successful ownership group to big-race honours over the Christmas period is the Fergal O’Brien-trained Kamsinas.
Having landed the Grade Two Newton Novices’ Hurdle on his latest start, the six-year-old is poised for a Grade One bid in the newly-named Formby Novices’ Hurdle – formerly the Tolworth – which for the first time will take place at Aintree on Boxing Day.
“That is probably the plan. He’s come out of the race at Haydock really well, so we’re probably looking at going to Aintree with him,” Fehily added.
“We were delighted with him the other day and Aintree should suit him well, I’d say.
“He’s an improving horse, so hopefully there’s more to come from him.”
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