Barry Geraghty’s 888sport Blog
The quality really ramps up this weekend with some great horse racing at both Wetherby and Ascot.
The obvious place to start is the Charlie Hall Chase (3.35) and it’s brilliant that both Bravemansgame and Ahoy Senor have stood their ground.
I’m in the Ahoy Senor camp as I was very impressed with him at Aintree and I thought he did very well to get as close as he did to L’Homme Presse at Cheltenham considering the way he jumped that day.
My slight concern is that he was beaten when he unseated first time out last season and was also beaten first time the previous season, so he might just be a horse that benefits from the outing.
We all know that Bravemansgame will be well tuned by Paul Nicholls and that might end up being crucial, along with any potential improvement from his wind op.
Wetherby is a very fair track and I enjoyed riding there, though I didn’t always have the best luck!
It’s a pretty flat track but it’s a big circuit and it probably offers a bit more of a stamina test than somewhere like Kempton, so I don’t see why the track won’t suit both horses equally.
It will be a great watch and what a fantastic way to kick off the new season.
Elsewhere on the card, I’m prepared to give Sporting John another chance in the West Yorkshire Hurdle (3.00).
He’s quite a frustrating horse as he has plenty of ability but just doesn’t always show it on the racecourse and last season’s exploits were evidence of exactly that as he won two races at Cheltenham and Warwick really nicely, but was disappointing behind Kansas City Chief at Cheltenham.
He’s always promised a lot and you have to bear in mind he’s just a seven-year-old, so time is still very much on his side and with a good record fresh, I fancy him to get the job done.
The other one I’ll have my eye on is Martello Sky in the mares’ hurdle (2.25).
This is a pretty tightly matched bunch on ratings, but I just thought Martello Sky might be open to a little bit more improvement being only a six-year-old.
Over at Ascot there’s some good racing too and all eyes will be on Goshen as he makes his chase debut (1.30).
I like many think he’ll take to the bigger obstacles really well and the key to him seems to be going right-handed.
For a jockey it’s very hard if a horse jumps the other way because the more you try to correct them, the more they will try to resist it and therefore it gets progressively worse as the race develops.
It’s not a character flaw or anything like that, it’s just one of those things that some horses do and as a jockey you just have to try your best to keep them straight.
Goshen was very plucky and brave at his hurdles, so I don’t see any reason why he won’t take to fences. He could be a very exciting novice chaser this season and this looks a good starting point to get his campaign underway.
The big handicap at Ascot is the London Gold Cup (3.15) and I wasn’t surprised to see Major Dundee and Our Power at the head of the betting.
Both horses have very similar profiles being seven-year-olds, with good place form in big handicaps and who look to have plenty of scope to improve this season.
Like many big Saturday handicaps, it’s wide open but I just thought those two might end up being a bit better than their current marks.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 28th October 2022
