This Hillcrest is one that has drifted into view of late. Only seeing ten rules races, it hasn’t been a smooth training experience for Henry Daly’s 10 – year – old.
Actually, the horse has achieved a 50% strike rate in that time. As a hurdler he won a 3m grade 2 event on heavy ground by 8L. A three year break followed and this season he’s back; they’ve put him over fences: three runs up til now.
On his seasonal debut, he was pitched into a race stacked with experienced, decent horses and I was quite impressed overall. He’s a giant of a horse, this one, and does take some organizing but despite a couple of novicey moments, I thought he did champion considering how long he’d been off and the profile of the race so I marked him down as one follow.
His next run, over the further 3m trip at Cheltenham, saw him struggling to travel at all, with numerous jumping errors to boot: tailed off. Awful. I hate it when that happens.
So to Ffos Las on Saturday: a Grade 2 over 2m 3f. he was unlucky to be brought down at the 3rd last but would probably have only finished 4th anyway so why is this one nagging at me? Well, I thought I saw enough in his first chase to warrant keeping an eye on him. What I see is a lightly-raced giant, a winner of nigh on half his races, who they’re persevering with. I wonder what their plans are.
We might notice he’s never run in a handicap and it’s a shame that he was BD today because otherwise his rating probably would’ve dropped by 3Lbs or more. Could it be that they're looking to pop him into a handicap? It's the kind of thing I like to keep my beady eye on. I did notice that he tends to look at the horses around him and I could see the blinds going which might help him concentrate.
He’s Trevor Hemmings bred and we all associate those green and yellow silks with marathon chases around Haydock, don’t we? Hillcrest has won over 3m as a hurdler and, in my fond imaginings, I could see him go further down the ratings in preparation for a handicap chase over 3m or further, wearing headgear, over those Haydock fences.
Not asking for much, am I.
Actually, the horse has achieved a 50% strike rate in that time. As a hurdler he won a 3m grade 2 event on heavy ground by 8L. A three year break followed and this season he’s back; they’ve put him over fences: three runs up til now.
On his seasonal debut, he was pitched into a race stacked with experienced, decent horses and I was quite impressed overall. He’s a giant of a horse, this one, and does take some organizing but despite a couple of novicey moments, I thought he did champion considering how long he’d been off and the profile of the race so I marked him down as one follow.
His next run, over the further 3m trip at Cheltenham, saw him struggling to travel at all, with numerous jumping errors to boot: tailed off. Awful. I hate it when that happens.
So to Ffos Las on Saturday: a Grade 2 over 2m 3f. he was unlucky to be brought down at the 3rd last but would probably have only finished 4th anyway so why is this one nagging at me? Well, I thought I saw enough in his first chase to warrant keeping an eye on him. What I see is a lightly-raced giant, a winner of nigh on half his races, who they’re persevering with. I wonder what their plans are.
We might notice he’s never run in a handicap and it’s a shame that he was BD today because otherwise his rating probably would’ve dropped by 3Lbs or more. Could it be that they're looking to pop him into a handicap? It's the kind of thing I like to keep my beady eye on. I did notice that he tends to look at the horses around him and I could see the blinds going which might help him concentrate.
He’s Trevor Hemmings bred and we all associate those green and yellow silks with marathon chases around Haydock, don’t we? Hillcrest has won over 3m as a hurdler and, in my fond imaginings, I could see him go further down the ratings in preparation for a handicap chase over 3m or further, wearing headgear, over those Haydock fences.
Not asking for much, am I.