Open race action at both the early Suffolk Downs fixture and Hove’s evening meeting. Mark Pierrepont guides you through the action.
Roger York’s CAROLS CLOWN shows plenty of early dash when regularly competing in A2 here at Suffolk Downs whilst the majority of his rivals are far from consistent leaders even in lower grades. Any kind of break from Carols Clown and he should be away and gone in the Suffolk Maiden Dash over 220m at 1254pm. The undoubted danger looks to be Eric Cantillon’s Blackrose Legend who is extremely lightly raced for a 2-year-old with just two competitive efforts under his belt. Unraced in Ireland when known as Dellser Sam he’s been asked tough questions in his two UK starts to date but has shown enough in trials to suggest he’s a race of this nature in him. He might just find Carols a little sharp for him today but he’s definitely one to keep on side in the coming weeks with the shrewd Cantillon sure to place him in a race he can win before too long.
Jason Smith’s WESTFIELD WISPA is similarly lightly raced with just the one competitive start on her card coming here over 388m at Suffolk Downs. Being just a February 2022 whelp however there is certainly room for improvement for a good while yet and though well beaten on that career debut race she will have learned a lot from that. Initially looking for the inside from her trap 3 berth on that occasion this move to trap 2 today is sure to suit and should she manage to clear her kennel mate Westfield Bullet early on she could well be away and gone in what is a very winnable Maiden Dash at 109pm.
Jane Craske saw her ADAMANT LUCY just touched off at a shade of odds on last time out at Yarmouth but looks to have a great chance to make amends in the Suffolk Dash over 220m at 124pm. A race not containing much in the way of strength in depth a level start should see her home with plenty of space with which to run anticipated up the middle of the track.
The Suffolk Maiden Puppy Trophy Final worth £500 to the winner is next up at 139pm. YAHOO MEGAN showed promise on career debut at Romford in a maiden early in September and put that experience to good use when landing her heat of this event in gutsy style from the front last week. Giving the impression that there is still plenty left in the locker she looks plotted to land this with her neighbour in trap 2 Droopys Beholder likely to move off out the traps and at the bend. Megan will be priced accordingly but can land this small final for Patrick Janssens before going on to bigger and better things.
The Suffolk Downs Midi Match Race Invitation over 548m at 153pm between Keith Robins Naney Jezabelle and Jim Daly’s Glideaway Bono. The pair faced each other over course and distance last week with Bono beating off Jezabelle by 7 lengths. Much of that was down to early trouble encountered by Robin’s charge however and in a match between the pair the distance isn’t likely to be quite so emphatic. That said preference does have to be for GLIDEAWAY BONO although at the likely prices it’s probably a match to watch and not get too heavily involved in if at all from a betting point of view.
Hove Stadium
Richard Rees DOODLEBUG LAD showed promise on career debut here at Hove a couple of weeks ago and put that experience to great use to run out an emphatic winner 500m maiden here at Hove last week. Moving off from trap 1 on that occasion he carries a middle seed here in this Coral Autumn Puppies 500 at 643pm and though he maybe drawn slightly wider than ideal in trap 5 he’s most certainly better boxed here than when moving off from red last time out. Just a February 2022 whelp he looks another nice type for the Rees kennel and is without doubt one for the notebook regardless of tonight’s result.
The Coral Autumn 500 at 718pm can go to Derek Knight’s CLONA URIEL. He’s a fair dog when right and coming away although he is obviously a difficult dog to keep totally sound with his card littered with trials and gaps between races. Hopefully he can begin to string a few races together as if doing so there is a fair amount of improvement still to come. Take a chance he can break from blue and if so this really is a race he should be winning.
The Coral Autumn 695 Stayers at 756pm can see June Harvey’s OWER SMASHER make a winning return to the track on her first appearance since being beaten behind Space Jet in the Dorando Final on Derby final night at Towcester early in July. This 695m trip really is a minimum for her these days but the freshness might just enable her to overcome the lack of distance on this occasion.
An absolutely pointless hurdles race is next up at 838pm with Ricky Holloway providing five of the runners and Tom Levers the other. A race to punt in only for the desperate and needy and if this is what hurdling has come to then it probably needs knocking on the head sooner rather than later.
The final open of the day is the Coral Autumn 500 Maidens at 912pm and a tough race to call for anybody looking for a get out of jail card. Seamus Cahill looks to have a nice pup on his hands in the shape of INNFIELD WACKER who was a well fancied winner of a decent A2 here last week. Slowly into stride he soon paced up to lead by the bend and though coming back to the field a little late on the result never really looked in doubt. There is plenty of time to improve at the boxes yet with this being just his fourth career start and the stamina towards the race finish should come as a given at this stage. Not an easy race by any means but plenty of reason to suggest that he should be leaving this kind of class well in his wake before too long.
