A
trainer currently going places, certainly as far as results at Worcester are
concerned, is 33 year old Neil Mulholland who trains near Bath. The
former apprentice to Aidan O'Brien, who is also the current champion trainer in
Jersey, took out his licence in 2008 and secured his first ever training treble
at Worcester's last meeting. Mulholland's
Ashcott Boy (pictured) racked up a double at the last two consecutive Worcester meetings
under Mark Quinlan, and maiden Jim Job Jones, who had pulled up on his previous
2 starts has proved a revelation, winning at Pitchcroft at odds of 20-1, and
following this up with victory at Southwell last week when sent off at 2-1
favourite.
Irish
trainer, Shark Hanlon rarely visits Pitchcroft and had never previously
returned home across the Irish Sea with a Worcester winner under his belt. That
all changed for the County Carlow trainer when Nearest the Pin won the £10k
feature chase under a calculated ride by AP McCoy, one leg of a treble for
McCoy on the day.
Claines
trainer, Richard Newland demonstrated another example of how well he places his
horses when Mart Lane won the £50k Class 1 listed handicap chase at Market
Rasen under Daryl Jacob recently. Jacob
gave the 9 year old an excellent hold-up ride, following the horse's summer
break. Mart Lane had been pulled up in
his 2 previous spring starts, including in the 30 runner Topham Chase at
Aintree in April. Newland
also had a winner at Chepstow's first jumps meeting of the new season last
week. Six year old Hawdyerwheesht, who
ran at Worcester in early September, won the selling hurdle and was bought back
in for 7,500 gns.
Cropthorne
trainer, Tony Carroll tasted success at the same meeting when Taroum went one
better than his Stratford 2nd place in September, by winning the handicap
hurdle. Taroum has also run 4 times at Worcester, coming 3rd at his most recent
attempt in August.
With
the winter jumps horses slowly starting to emerge on the scene, and Cheltenham's
first meeting of the new season due next Friday, entries for this week's
Worcester meeting are encouraging in terms of numbers. We
will be celebrating 50 years of the Injured Jockey's Fund and will be joined at
the course by Chickey Oaksey, wife of the late Lord Oaksey. The IJF 50th Anniversary maiden hurdle is the
final race on the card and has attracted 22 entries, including horses from the
yards of Paul Nicholls, Rebecca Curtis and David Pipe. The
first race tomorrow is due off at 2pm.