Bowen must have been delighted with Kian on Sunday!
It’s safe to say the National Hunt action was overshadowed in no small measure by the Classic action taking place on the Epsom Downs. Unless of course you were on NTF Summer Stunner Pure Faith at Worcester (BFSP 27.95!), then it was at least on a par with Ruler Of The World landing the Epsom spoils!
It’s generally about this time that the Bowen-Bandwagon rolls into town and on Sunday he made the fairly hefty trip to Fakenham with one runner; the exciting Kian’s Delight. In fairness the race probably wasn’t up to much but for a chasing debut it did the job, as did Kian’s Delight. The 5yo was always up with the pace and jumped extremely well without any semblance of an error. Once jockey Tom O’Brien opened the pipes slightly he had the others strung out within a matter of strides and the race was quickly and efficiently put to bed. He traveled and jumped immaculately and the yawning 17L gap at the line in no way flattered him.
So where to now for KIAN’S DELIGHT?
On this evidence he looks like he could well be even better over the larger obstacles than he was over timber, and let’s be honest he wasn’t too shabby over them either (rated a high of 132 after his Perth Summer Champion Hurdle victory last August).
He clearly is happiest over the minimum trips, that’s where all 4 of his wins have come, and although I wouldn’t be ignoring him over longer it is certainly something I want to be keeping a very close eye on. He may with time appreciate further although he certainly isn’t laden with stamina.
So far all his wins have come in those 10 or less fields and although he has some decent form in larger fields I have an inkling he is better with less around him.
In the short term I would be looking to see him at tracks such as Perth or Market Rasen (where he has run well before) so they can build his confidence over fences, as far as a summer jumper goes he would be one of the better types still on the go and should find winning opportunities at those sort of tracks.
In the long term he could well be an interesting type for handicaps and you can be sure Bowen has some kind of long term plan in mind for him, as he is only a 5yo there must be plenty of scope and improvement yet to come.
There were a couple of others who, for 1 reason or another, I have been tracking and they are worthy of at least a passing mention.
Victor Dartnall’s 7yo was on my 2012/13 ‘to follow list’ but for various reason’s he failed to fire in 2 outings over fences, the illness that swept through the trainers yard probably had at least something to do with it. He returned on Saturday after being off the track since January and although he won cosy enough in the end it wasn’t a performance that totally impressed me. The word after the race was that he had a breathing operation between this run and his last ran in January and although that may have fixed any underlying issue he still didn’t run anywhere near the 150 mark he achieved in his hurdle career. Clearly that would have been hard to achieve in this company but there wasn’t even a hint he still has that level of ability and I would be wary of him following up on this run. It seems he will now be given a break until the autumn and for me I would have to see a real improvement next time out before he becomes a viable betting opportunity.
Despite this run being his 14th consecutive defeat I still think there are races in him. Hexham, however, really isn’t his track and he just doesn’t handle the stiff finish (form at track reads P45). Hopefully he will be dropped a couple lbs for this run as although I don’t think his current mark is necessarily beyond him (OR 114) he would benefit from a bit of leniency. The yard also has plenty of talented claimers that would help ease his burden and get him back to winning ways once he gets his ideal conditions.
He wasn’t far off those conditions on Saturday but the stiff contours of Hexham really don’t suit him.
3 winners from 8 runners with a further 2 coming 2nd. A couple of the losing runners probably didn’t have ideal conditions as well, notably Quinsman.
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Jamie Snowden reported that Ixora struck into herself which will explain the disappointing effort on Saturday.
Yes, Ixora’s run looked to bad to be true. Good spot with Qulinton as well, will have very much needed that run and looks on a decent mark to strike somewhere soon.
all i can say is PROBLEMA TIC!! Perth’s Gold Cup was celarly the target for this boy! right handed, good firm ground, not too big a field. an ok run LTO in what was celarly deliberate inadequate conditions. Got on at 10s last night – not to massive stakes but enough to make it a good afternoon. Hope you were on!
Fantastic result today!! The conditions aligned and he did the job in stunning style for us!
I was on at double figure prices so more than happy.