It’s not everyone who would think
of naming a horse Romeo is Bleeding, so when the horse with this name won the
opening Handicap Chase at Pitchcroft last week I decided to find out a bit more
about him.
The eleven year old first ran at
Worcester in May last year when trained by David Rees. He went on to win a
point to point back in March this year for trainer Carl Price and is now
trained in Chepstow by Ron Harris, a predominantly flat trainer. He has had 4 runs since June for Harris and
all have been at Worcester. The form of his previous 3 runs was 22P – the
victory last week was his first win under rules. The gelding is by Carroll House out of an
Irish mare, Ean Eile so there is no clue to the source of his unusual name
there.
On further research, I discovered
that the name actually comes from a song written in 1978 by the American
singer/song writer, Tom Waits.
Often, racehorses will have a
‘stable’ name used by those who own and look after them on a daily basis, and a
more formal ‘racing’ name which has to be approved by and registered with
Weatherbys in Northampton before the horse can race. The ‘formal’ names are often derived from
those of the horse’s sire and/or dam.
The local success story of last
week’s meeting was the victory of one of Richard Newland’s new recruits,
McGroarty. The horse has been with
Newland for just over a month, during which he has posted a second and a win at
Market Rasen.
The six year old ex pointer won a
bumper for former trainer, David Kiely in Ireland in June. Carrying top weight, the Brian Boru gelding
was sent off at 2-1 for the 2 mile novice hurdle and won comfortably under Sam
Twiston-Davies by 5 lengths. There is
obviously more to come and as the race was a qualifier for the 7bets4free.com
£25,000 final at Worcester on 25th October, he must be considered as
a possible contender for this race.
I always find it interesting to
follow the fortunes of horses who have run at Worcester and one such horse
caught my eye in the week.
Casino Markets trained by Emma
Lavelle won 2 handicap chases at Worcester in July of last year, including the
Pershore Plum Festival Land O’Plums chase, ridden by Aidan Coleman and Daryl
Jacob respectively. However it was
Leighton Aspell in the saddle when Lavelle sent the horse to Saratoga in the
USA last week, as her first ever runner in America. The race was the Grade 1 New York Turf
Writers Cup handicap hurdle and the prize fund was $150,000. The American owned horse ran well and the
report of the race reads that from midfield, he made a brief effort approaching
the last but weakened on the flat into 8th place. Time will tell whether he will further his
American racing career.
The first race is due off tonight
at 4.35pm for our final evening meeting of the season.
