Having
enjoyed a particularly dry spell over the summer months at Pitchcroft, recently
it has been more a case of it never rains but it pours. We had two feature race meetings in 5 days in
August and both were run in the rain.
Despite
the inclement weather doing its best to spoil the party, interesting stories
emerged from both meetings.
Going
from strength to strength, Hanley Swan trainer, David Dennis celebrated another
winner at the track. Marju's Quest won a
selling hurdle for owners, Favourites Racing.
The horse last won at Worcester under AP McCoy in September 2014.
Dennis
defied the interest of a telephone bidder in the subsequent auction but had to
go up to 10,500 guineas to take the horse home.
Bromsgrove
trainer, Claire Dyson enjoyed another winner at Worcester when Dr Dreamy came
from off the pace to record his first win in 22 starts, and beat the course
winning favourite, Patricktom Buru by half a length.
Horses
for courses is a saying that is often proved to be accurate. Some horses just
do perform better on specific tracks.
Two
Worcester specialist mares were seen to great effect at the two meetings. Fairyinthewind, formerly trained by Alan King
and now with Brendan Powell, has run at the course 7 times and won on 5 of
those occasions, the first was in April 2013.
I therefore find it amazing that even though she carried bottom weight,
she was sent off at 25/1 in the recent £20k feature handicap chase, in which
she was also the youngest horse in the race.
Fairyinthewind
stayed on well and galloped her rivals into the ground to land the spoils. There are plans to bring her back to the
course in September when I very much doubt she will start at such a big price.
At
First Light, one of only two horses that David Weston currently trains, boasts
a 100% strike rate at Worcester this summer – three wins from three runs.
Up in
trip, her latest victory came thanks in part to the final hurdle departure of
John Ferguson's Great Fighter. Following
a break, we may well see her next in the new mare's race at Cheltenham.
We have
seen a selection of Irish raiders at Worcester in August. Gordon Elliott, Paul Flynn and John Joseph
Hanlon have all sent runners over.
Hanlon's
Nearest The Pin, a 2014 course winner, could only manage fourth place in the
feature chase, but Baby Jake returned home the winner of the £8,500 handicap
hurdle and may well return to the course again in September.
Evening
racing starts at 5.10pm tomorrow.
