The Inside Track – December 2024

The Inside Track – December 2024

With underfoot conditions finally giving opportunities for the winter horses to roll, plenty of runners were sent out by the Greystoke team in December and there was no shortage of success. Six winners and 11 places over the month a fine reward in what must have been difficult circumstances.

The month started with the exciting Robby making his hurdling debut at Carlisle. Giving away experience to the highly promising Gamesters Guy, he was no match for that rival on the day but showed plenty and he’s a likely sort to take a novice contest on his way to good handicaps.

President Scottie was another to make a highly promising debut in a new discipline, running a fine race over a trip that is likely to prove short of his optimum over fences. It wouldn’t be fanciful to suggest he’d have a place in a quality handicap at one of the spring festivals.

Nells Son vindicated the view that he would have given Kalif du Berlais a stern test at Carlisle had that one completed, by following up in a valuable race at Kelso. He’ll now be forced into the top end handicaps by his mark, but he’ll continue to give a good account in this vein of form – seemingly improving approaching his tenth birthday like many from the yard do.

Young Getaway again shaped with promise on his second hurdles start, the form of his debut behind Country Mile working out well. He’s one to be very interested in moving forwards.

Smokeringinthedark became the second winner of the month by taking the measure of one who had already had the benefit of a run over hurdles. He showed plenty of fight in the finish and is very likely to progress as the season progresses.

Patience by all involved with Sauceoflife was rewarded as he justified strong support to take a Doncaster Novice’s Handicap hurdle on just his third start back after a long absence. His strength at the finish after they got racing a fair way out opens up a lot of options trip wise now and is yet another for the notebook.

Doncaster also saw another encouraging display from Coniston George, the run of the race not suiting at all. Given a strongly run race at the trip he has a big race in him.

Ruby Island had her first start for the yard on the same card, which wasn’t without promise. Her best race came over further previously so there are plenty of options with her moving forwards.

One horse enjoying the step up in trip over fences was The Kalooki Kid, winning in decisive fashion. The raw result with 4 non completions might throw some shade on the form, but in truth he’d already sewn the race up before then and connections will be justified at looking at some of the good quality spring handicaps next.

After a break, Shesarocca bounced back to form. Though put in her place by the winner, that one has since gone in again and if she can build on this she’s now very well treated having comfortably seen off the rest of the field.

Gintime made a hugely eyecatching debut in her Carlisle bumper, having to come from further back than the winner. They way she travelled powerfully into the race suggests she may have been one of the bargain buys of this season and will be the one to beat next time in many a mares bumper.

Another notable bumper debut came from youngster Ballynoe Boy, who conceded first run in a slowly run affair and was unlucky not to catch the winner. His pedigree would suggest his best is to come over staying trips so this was highly encouraging.

A successful trip to Haydock shortly before Christmas yielded two winners in the form of Gege Ville and Sunnyvilla. The former was making his handicap debut after 20 months and found plenty to score. He didn’t get the clearest of runs, so is probably value for more above the bare result and could be set to make up for lost time.

The latter is another relatively lightly raced sort of his age and made a fine start to life in Greystoke with a 7 length win in the class 3 handicap chase. He was versatile trip wise in Ireland and never raced over hurdles, so there are plenty of options for him in the coming months to win races – from quality handicap chases to novice hurdles.

Famous Bridge didn’t quite manage to build on his encouraging Kelso reappearance, his jumping costing him at various stages. Should Newcastle turn up soft on the day, the Eider Chase would seem like an ideal target for him next.

Castle Rushen again found a testing 3 miles a little beyond him, still clearly in form for most of the race and is very much one to keep on side given a slightly lesser stamina challenge.

After Christmas, one horse that has proven a little challenging to read for form students is Florida Dreams. Fresh from a highly encouraging fifth in the Greatwood, the step back up to 2 ½ miles at Aintree looked perfect to unlock further progress but he emerged from the thick fog well back and stayed on for another fifth place. It will be interesting to see where he next appears.

La Zoubida made plenty of appeal on paper ahead of her bumper debut and she ran a fine first race, only beaten by a quality yardstick with more experience. She looks capable of winning a similar race and will be exciting to follow over hurdles in time.

One for the tracker in the coming weeks will be Red Cadillac. Now allotted a mark of 94 and able to go into handicaps, he looks the sort to be ideally suited to a truly run 16f-18f contest.

The yard was unlucky not to taste victory one final time in 2024, with a narrow defeat for Parisencore at Wetherby. Harper’s Brook is a notoriously quirky horse, but with a lot of ability when things drop right so not having gone up in the weights as a result is one small consolidation.

Whilst trying to avoid using clichés in this column, it is hard to avoid throwing out the ‘chaser in the making’ moniker for the stunning looking Jehol De Thaix. He is well capable of picking up a novice hurdle and handicap this season. but the thought of seeing him over fences is already an exciting one. As in his bumper, he travelled smoothly throughout on hurdle debut at Kelso and just wanted for a little knowhow in the finish. As he learns in the coming months, he will be another one to follow.

Also in the Borders, the final runner of the year was Senor Lombardy, noted last month as one to follow next time and was well placed and backed to take a very winnable race. Sadly, lady luck was not shining on him with a first fence fall. If none the worse, he’ll again be one to look out for in a similar contest.

Star Performer

Plenty of candidates after a fantastic month for the team, but The Kalooki Kid was perhaps the most impressive. He won’t look out of place in any of the top novice handicaps or open handicaps at this spring’s festivals, with an already assured jumping technique and a big engine.

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