The card at Worcester last week
featured another well-supported 8 races, with 76 horses declared to run, and in fact we have another eight race card today with 82 horses declared!
Dan Skelton who trains at
Alcester, and stable jockey brother Harry, made certain their trip to the
course was 100% successful last week, bagging two winners in the first three races. Stephen Hero went one better in
the beginner’s chase than his second place at Market Rasen the previous week,
while Shady Lane beat the Daryl Jacob ridden Wak A Turtle by an impressive 15
lengths in the 2 mile handicap chase.
Skelton, in just his second
season of training is already making a great name for himself, lying in second
place in the jumps trainer’s table with a 37% strike race.Very complimentary about the
ground at Pitchcroft, Skelton commented he would be sending his horses to run
regularly at the track this summer.
Currently ahead of Skelton and
leading the table is David Pipe, whose former Punchestown Festival winner,
Street Entertainer won the feature handicap hurdle on the same card. Street Entertainer also won at Worcester in
August 2014 under AP McCoy. On this
occasion, he was ridden confidently out front, by Tom Scudamore and went on to
score by 5 lengths.
The progress of Worcester winners
is always interesting to follow, especially those as renowned as the Nicky
Henderson trained Hunt Ball. The horse, who won a 2 mile 7
furlong novice hurdle at the course last month, is owned by American syndicate,
Atlantic Equine and we learnt this week that he is to return to the Sates for a
tilt at the American Grand National in October. Unlike the famous UK race, the American Grand National is a hurdle race
run over 2 miles and 4 furlongs.
Hanley Swan trainer, David Dennis
has been training for the same amount of time as Dan Skelton, and is being
talked about with equal excitement in local racing circles. Last week Dennis had a 33/1
winner on the flat at Nottingham, with newcomer 2 year old, Show Me Again in
the hands of recent convert to flat racing, Timmy Murphy. Interestingly, Murphy rode the winner of the
last jumps race ever staged at the course back in 1996.
Encouraging young would-be
jockeys and families to support local racing is very much the theme at the racecourse this week. Over last weekend,
enthusiastic youngsters flocked to the Worcester Racecourse stand at the
Malvern Three Counties Show to test their skills on the equiciser mechanical
horse that jockeys use to build up their muscles and to train on.
Today, the course will open its gates at 12.20pm for the annual June Family Fun raceday which this year
also falls on Father’s Day.
