‘Glory’ for trainer Richard Hannon and stable jockey, Sean Levey, in the 3-y-o Maiden Stakes over seven furlongs of Wolverhampton Tapeta; they certainly have one to go to ‘War’ with!
Three weeks ago War Glory posted a useful time-handicap mark over course and distance when making hot-favourite, Always Welcome, pull out all the stops to beat him less than two lengths, with well-regarded Godolphin-owned, Pictograph, a length away and others six lengths and upwards in arrears.
To this experienced eye it looked a cracking debut by the Canford Cliffs colt which should improve for the experience; a replication of that effort ought to be good enough for War Glory to go one better and it will be a major surprise if he doesn’t justify favouritism.
When you consider the quality on all-weather circuits nowadays betting seriously is hazardous; several with similar chances have been turned over this season and that’s because major yards with mega-rich owners are prepared to make an earlier start. That makes sense.
Our turf-flat season gets under way in late March, who really cares? It’s a farcical, annual, situation with ground conditions usually nigh on desperate; this time round, especially, we can expect to encounter adverse surfaces with rains having flooded out the United Kingdom. Several racecourses will take months to recover.
A new season should begin at Newmarket Craven meeting in April but it wont happen, Doncaster needs to fly the flag for ‘openers’ with the Lincoln Handicap and its executive wont be swayed.
Nowadays trainers/owners are well catered for with true, non-dangerous, surfaces on all-weather tracks but punters have to ‘build in’ so many factors; draw, three different types of ground, fibresand, polytrack and Tapeta, speed figures, jockeys, etc but it’s become a tremendous daily challenge.
Going round bends is the problem, perhaps things will be very different on the long, newly-constructed, Newcastle all-weather course due to open very soon; now then!
SELECTIONS
9.15 War Glory
10.00 Four Nations
11.40 Napoleon Solo