Adam looks forward to Wolverhampton

I’m looking forward to Wolverhampton on Saturday where I have a busy evening with five rides, and a couple with good chances. I’d be hopeful I can come away with a winner or two on the night.

Scarlet Ruby is first up for John O’Shea. This filly has been a little disappointing for some time. Although she’s fairly genuine it’s difficult to get the perfect run round on her as she lacks tactical speed and often finds herself being out sprinted late on. Last time out at Kempton I’d planned to make the running to negate that but she missed the kick that day and ended up finishing sixth. If we can get to the front this time she’d be in with a better shout but it looks a trappy race so she may struggle again here.

Watermelon Sugar makes his debut in the median auction maiden for Archie Watson, and I think he’s my best chance of the evening. We’ve always liked this son of Guitafan and his recent work at home has been very solid. He’s coming up against some experienced rivals from the Andrew Balding and Mark Johnston yards, but they’ve only managed to run up to ratings of 68 and 65 respectively so a decent effort from our lad should see him taking this. He’s straightforward at home and knows his job going into the race, and Archie's horses are in super form as per usual. 

Inevitable Outcome is up next for Dave Loughnane. She won over course and distance two starts back and that race has worked out reasonably well since. I’d be inclined to put a line through her last run when she finished seventh at Southwell, as it seems too bad to be true. It’s possible she wasn’t in love with the track that day, and she generally puts her best foot forward at Wolverhampton. In any case, a repeat of her penultimate run would put her bang there at the business end and I’m confident she won’t be far away on the night.

I’m hoping I can go one better then last time on Dundory in the 7:45 for John. I was gutted to get beaten in a photo finish on this lad the last day around Wolves. He’s a horse that needs to be ridden patiently off a strong gallop, and as with all those types he needs luck in running. We got that last time and everything went perfectly to plan. I hit the front just inside the furlong and Dundory decided he’d done his job, pricked his ears and idled. We just got caught on the line, but we will have learned a lot from that and we’ll aim to get him there a little bit later this time. Unfortunately the handicapper has jumped him up five pounds for his last run. I think that’s very harsh for a horse who clearly needs to be ridden a certain way and has rarely gotten his head in front, but hopefully he can turn up again and with a bit of luck can do the business this time.

My last ride of the evening is another horse of John's called Power of Lazarus. He ran better the the bare result would suggest last time as we got stuck in traffic off a slow gallop. He’s very one paced but gallops to the line and the extra furlong here will help him. He’s another who needs a good gallop to bring out his best, and we haven’t got a great draw in 10, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he got competitive here. 

Looking forward to the future, it’s getting to that exciting time of year with the flat season just around the corner. The covers are coming off the older horses, and the young horses are being put through their paces to see what they’ve got under the bonnet. I’m in at Archie Watson's four days a week and I’m lucky enough to get my leg across almost every horse in the yard at least once. We have a very exciting team to look forward to this year, with some very solid handicappers and potential group performers amongst the older horses gearing up for the turf. The two year olds haven’t been asked any serious questions as of yet but everything they have done has been very pleasing collectively and individually. The wonderful thing about this time of year is that everything has potential and nothing has disappointed us yet, and hopefully they will continue in that fashion until the season begins. 

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Adam is not an employee of Harrowells Limited and is sponsored under a British Horseracing Authority (BHA) compliant sponsorship contract. The views he expresses in his blogs and on his social media accounts are his own.