The Guardian recognised in Derby nominations
The Guardian’s racing writers, Greg Wood and Chris Cook, have been recognised in nominations for the 50th annual Derby Awards. Both men feature on a four-person short list for Racing Writer of the Year while Cook is also up for Racing Reporter of the Year.
Wood has once more led our coverage of the sport’s major events while also examining the faults of the betting industry. Cook’s focus has been on racing’s ruling body, leading to a string of stories about the failings of the BHA’s integrity department. The winners will be announced on 5 December.
Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
Reviewing my selections for Cheltenham today, it appears that I’ve had my head thoroughly turned by Irish raiders. They make up a minority of all runners and Willie Mullins has got his feet up at home, yet somehow I’ve picked visitors four times out of six.
There’s something about Gordon Elliott and Tony Martin in Cheltenham handicaps that always makes you feel you’re on the right track. But possibly the most interesting one off the boat today is Peregrine Run (2.40) in the Neptune Novice Hurdle, a trial for the real thing in March.
Trained in Kildare by Peter Fahey (Shop DJ, Owega Star), Peregrine Run took an age to find his feet over hurdles but connections appear to have known what they had, judging by the way the money came for him at Down Royal in August. He hosed up in that maiden hurdle, beat 17 rivals by five lengths in an alleged handicap at Gowran and most recently won a Listed prize at Limerick.
That’s quite a lot of experience in the context of this race and I like that he’s a strong traveller who sees out his races well. He’s a future chaser who likes a sound surface, which he ought to get.
By official ratings or Racing Post Ratings, Peregrine Run is just 1lb off the top of this field but you can get him at 15-2 and that looks fair. Of course, there are some unexposed prospects ranged against him.
I had Silvergrove (3.50) in mind for the Hennessy but his trainer, Ben Pauling, evidently has other ideas. The Grand National is apparently the aim for this eight-year-old, which is interesting because his handicap rating is not quite high enough for him to be sure of making the cut for Aintree.
So I suppose one way forward might be to have him ready to win an amateur riders’ race in mid-November, go up a bit in the weights and have a nice break while everything else is running on midwinter ground. That’s my guess at Pauling’s plan, anyway, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with the rest of his string, to judge by four winners from seven runners in the past fortnight and this from a man who’d had a single success in the previous four months.
Silvergrove only joined Pauling just over a year ago and made significant improvement to win two of his four runs last season. I bet there’ll be more to come.
His rider today is Tom David, Pauling’s head lad, who got on well enough with the beast to be third in the Kim Muir. I don’t think there’s anything in this field as unstoppable as Cause Of Causes was that day. Silvergrove is 5-1.
Earlier, Pauling sends out Barters Hill for his chasing debut. This is a highly rated hurdler who looked a possible type for fences but I think the trainer would rather have started elsewhere and has been forced into doing it here because there hasn’t been enough juice in the ground elsewhere.
Even after this week’s rain, I think Barters Hill is at risk of getting outpaced here and he is priced up on reputation at 2-1. I’m surprised to be getting 6-1 about Rock The Kasbah (2.05), who wasn’t far behind Barters Hill on hurdles ratings and has already proved his aptitude for fences with a win around Chepstow.
Philip Hobbs suggested that day that this might be the closest thing he has to a star for this season, which may have been the euphoria of the moment but I bet we’ll get an improved showing here in any case. I worry about his flop when favourite in the Coral Cup but this is not the same test as that race.
With Cheltenham on, you wouldn’t think I’d be napping a 10-year-old from an outside draw in a Lingfield sprint, would you? But Doctor Parkes (12.15) has a lot going for him at 7-2, including the fact that he returned to form with a Chelmsford win last week and has no penalty because that was an apprentice race. He has no fewer than 10 career successes from higher marks than this one, including one from 8lb higher in February.
