Tag Archive for: Leicester

Baaeed’s half-brother Naqeeb beaten on Leicester debut

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Naqeeb, half-brother to the mighty Baaeed, was third on his racecourse bow in the Rekorderlig Premium Fruit Cider Maiden Stakes at Leicester.

The three-year-old is by Nathaniel and out of the mare Aghareed, the same Shadwell-owned dam who produced the superb seven-time Group One scorer.

Also trained by William Haggas, Naqeeb runs in the same silks of Sheikha Hissa’s breeding and racing operation and was the 5-4 favourite under Jim Crowley when taking to the track for the first time.

Hard work over 10 furlongs on soft ground he was third, beaten six and a quarter lengths behind Pam Sly’s Wintercrack and Ryan Potter’s Fazayte.

Shadwell’s Richard Hills said: “He just got very tired quickly in that ground.

Naqeeb prior to his racecourse debut
Naqeeb prior to his racecourse debut (Adam Morgan/PA)

“He needs better ground, it’s holding and it’s his first time out.

“William’s (horses) will come on for their first run. We’ve been struggling to get on the grass at Newmarket and today, with that holding ground, it just caught him out.”

Sly’s winner was a 20-1 chance in the hands of Kieran O’Neill after two heavily-beaten efforts previously, but defied those odds in good style from the front.

Wintercrack is by Sly’s Speciosa, winner of the 1000 Guineas in 2006 and whose bloodline the trainer has been successfully cultivating since.

“She’ll get a handicap mark now, she’ll only be in the high 60s, they wouldn’t do anything else as she’s had some bad runs,” said Sly.

Wintercrack with connections
Wintercrack with connections (Adam Morgan/PA)

“I don’t know why they gave her such a lead. That Kieran’s jolly good, isn’t he?

“All the family from Speciosa, they all want a bit of give, all of them.

“I’ve got them ready early so I could get them out, but they’ll all probably have to have a break in the summer and then come back in the autumn.”

Cuthbert Dibble trumps Leicester rivals

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Cuthbert Dibble made it third time lucky at Leicester when taking the EBF British Stallion Studs ‘National Hunt’ Novices’ Hurdle on Wednesday.

The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained 6-4 favourite had finished third behind some useful rivals at the track in his two hurdles outings so far and thrived for the step up in trip in this two-and-a-half-mile contest to record an easy 19-length success in the hands of the trainer’s son Sam.

The race served as a qualifier for the final of the EBF series at Sandown om March 11 and his handler confirmed that would be the target for this talented five-year-old, who Twiston-Davies envisages becoming a three-mile chaser in time.

He said: “He’s been superb both times here before when showing he needed further and the step up in trip has definitely helped him.

“He’s a stayer and he outstayed them all today – they went quick early on and he outstayed them.

“The idea is he is a three-mile chaser and I think he is definitely that in the making.”

On Sandown, he added: “We would certainly look at that. He may have to have four runs to go there and in which case we will have one more.”

Leicestershire-based owners Graham and Alison Jelley have enjoyed plenty of success with horses trained by Twiston-Davies in the past and were delighted to see their latest charge strike a telling blow at their local track.

“It got a little bit frustrating when he was running well but not quite winning over two miles, but we always knew he needed further and today the proof was in the pudding,” said Graham Jelley.

“It’s our local track and Nigel tries to keep his owners local in their novice stages if we can. We’ve had a good lot of success here, it’s a nice track for novices, whether that is over hurdles or fences.”

Milton Harris was not at Leicester to see Jacamar (2-1 favourite) make a drop in class count to grind out victory in the Leicester Racecourse Ideal Conference Venue Handicap Chase, but was thrilled to hear the news and hopes the victory restores the eight-year-old’s confidence before a return to more challenging company.

He said: “He was due a win and ran a really creditable race in a hot handicap at Cheltenham last time.

“On his day he’s a solid Saturday afternoon handicapper, but we wanted to give him a confidence booster and I suppose we will go back to somewhere like Kempton for a bit better race on a weekend now.

“I am delighted and the horse has been a sensation, he’s been very good for the yard and for the owners. Mark and Maria Adams are very big supporters of our yard and I’m delighted to get another winner for them.”

Jacamar was part one of a Paddy Brennan double, with Fergal O’Brien’s Accidental Legend providing the second leg in the concluding Next Meeting @leicesterraces Thursday 16th February Handicap Hurdle.

The win brought up a hat-trick for the Shirocco gelding, who was sent off the 13-8 second favourite and relished the testing conditions.

“He’s owned by my sponsor Nic Brereton of Bresbet, so there’s always a little bit more pressure when it’s for someone putting so much for the yard,” said O’Brien.

“But I was delighted with him today, he’s a lovely horse who will hopefully take to fences at some point – a long-distance chaser is what he will be.

“Paddy says that ground felt good on him today, so if it dried up at all we’d finish him up – he’s a proper winter horse. He wasn’t stopping and Paddy knew what he had underneath him. He loves an old battle and it’s great that he stuck his neck out.”

Another horse to enjoy the deep ground was David Pipe’s Heure De Gloire (100-30) who was given a fine ride from Tom Scudamore to make all in the racingtv.com Golden Miller Mares’ Handicap Hurdle, while the opening Leicester Racecourse Ideal Self-Hire Wedding Venue Claiming Hurdle went the way of Samuel Drinkwater’s No Rematch (9-4).

Heure De Gloire ridden by Tom Scudamore on their way to winning the racingtv.com Golden Miller Mares’ Handicap Hurdle at Leicester Racecourse
Heure De Gloire ridden by Tom Scudamore on their way to winning the racingtv.com Golden Miller Mares’ Handicap Hurdle at Leicester Racecourse (Tim Goode/PA)

The Best Ticket Deals Online @ leicesterracecourse.co.uk Novices’ Handicap Chase was claimed by Pam Sly’s Mixedwave (7-2), who jumped excellently in the hands of Alex Edwards to open his chasing account at the second time of asking.

“It was only his second run over fences, but he’s slow. I couldn’t believe they made him nearly favourite because he’s so slow,” said Sly.

“He had no weight but Alex Edwards gave him an excellent ride – he’s some horseman.

“I have to thank Paul O’Brien because he has schooled him and schooled him until he was nearly foot perfect.”

Exeter and Leicester called off as frost continues to bite

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There will be no National Hunt racing in Britain on Tuesday after fixtures at both Exeter and Leicester were abandoned on Monday morning due to frost.

Officials at Leicester had planned to inspect at 3.30pm, but with the track frozen and no prospect of sufficient improvement, an early decision was made.

Clerk of the course Jimmy Stevenson said: “Unfortunately there has been little improvement.

“I was hoping last night for it not to be as cold – it wasn’t as cold as it has been considering it only went down to minus 3C last night when we have been getting minus 7C and minus 8C. But unfortunately that wasn’t enough to help us out and the frost is really set in the ground now.

“It’s been in the ground now for about nine days and unfortunately the temperatures that are forecast aren’t going to help us.”  

It is a similar story at Exeter, where an inspection had been announced for 4pm. However, that was brought forward to 9am and officials had to draw stumps.

It is not only jumps fixtures which are being affected by the cold snap, with Monday’s all-weather meeting at Kempton abandoned due to freezing fog.

The Sunbury circuit came through a 12.30pm precautionary inspection on Sunday, but a further check was announced for raceday morning and clerk of the course Barney Clifford ultimately had no option but to call off proceedings.

He said: “It’s 8am, we’ve got freezing fog and it’s minus 5C.

“I had to wait to get the latest update from the Met Office and it’s not forecast to clear today. It might do by 3pm, but it’s worse now than it was 7.30am.

“Hopefully we should be fine for racing on Wednesday, but this looks set in for the day. Put it this way, if I was going skiing here today you wouldn’t see much!”

Wednesday’s meeting at Warwick is subject to an inspection at noon on Tuesday, with the current going described as frozen, soft in places.

Kempton card falls due to freezing fog

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This afternoon’s all-weather fixture at Kempton has been abandoned due to freezing fog.

The Sunbury circuit came through a 12.30pm precautionary inspection on Sunday, but a further check was announced for raceday morning and officials ultimately had no option but to call off proceedings.

Clerk of the course Barney Clifford said: “It’s 8am, we’ve got freezing fog and it’s minus 5C.

“I had to wait to get the latest update from the Met Office and it’s not forecast to clear today. It might do by 3pm, but it’s worse now than it was 7.30am.

“Hopefully we should be fine for racing on Wednesday, but this looks set in for the day. Put it this way, if I was going skiing here today you wouldn’t see much!”

Leicester’s meeting on Tuesday has also been called off. Officials had planned to inspect at 3.30pm, but with the track frozen and no prospect of sufficient improvement, an early decision was made.

Exeter’s National Hunt meeting on Tuesday must survive a 4pm inspection on Monday.

Lingfield’s Winter Million meeting frozen off

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Despite a huge effort by officials and groundstaff at Lingfield the third day of the Winter Million fixture has been abandoned due to a frozen track.

Prospects had looked bleak earlier in the week and Friday’s scheduled card, the first of the three-day Winter Million meeting, was called off a long way in advance.

However, a thaw towards the end of the week, particularly on Saturday which enabled the course to become raceable, raised hopes the valuable fixture featuring the Fleur Du Lys Chase would be able to take place.

Forecasts ranged from between minus 1C and minus 4C with clerk of the course George Hill confessing it would need to be towards the lower end to stand any chance.

Unfortunately temperatures reached a bitter minus 5C on course and the efforts of up to 50 people in covering up the course with frost sheets went to waste with the meeting called of long before a scheduled 8am precautionary inspection.

Hill tweeted: “***RACING ABANDONED*** (Sun 22 Jan). Currently -5C, inspection brought forward as currently frozen in places with no signs of improvement with the forecast. Despite our best efforts, the weather has beaten us.”

It means there has been no racing on turf in the UK since Hereford on Monday but Navan did manage to race on Saturday in Ireland and racing is due to take place at Thurles on Sunday.

There was also bad news from Market Rasen who abandoned their meeting on Friday, set to feature the Listed Alan Swinbank Mares’ Open National Flat race, but swiftly rearranged for Tuesday.

However, much colder temperatures than forecast over the weekend has meant there has been no discernible improvement in the track and early on Sunday morning Tuesday’s fixture was also abandoned.

The going report read: “Following a second consecutive night of un-forecast -5C the track now has significant areas of frozen ground, including under the frost covers. Original forecast for improved conditions has not materialised and therefore no prospect of the ground thawing before racing.”

Exeter’s meeting on Tuesday must survive a 4pm inspection on Monday while Leicester will inspect at 3.30pm on Monday for their meeting on the same day following successive minus 5C nights over the weekend.

Kempton’s all-weather meeting on Monday must survive an 8am precautionary inspection on raceday due to the threat of freezing fog and low temperatures having passed a 12.30pm precautionary inspection on Sunday.

Waterlogging claims Leicester’s Wednesday card

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Leicester have abandoned their meeting on Wednesday due to waterlogging and areas of false ground.

A pre-Christmas cold snap saw plenty of racing cancelled last month, but now it appears to be the persistent wet weather which is causing tracks problems as the jumps season heads into the second half of the campaign.

The East Midlands venue was set to host a six-race card with the feature race the Listed Kube – Leicester’s Premier Events Venue Mares’ Chase over two miles.

But with heavy rain forecast for Tuesday and parts of the track already waterlogged, an inspection was called for 3pm on Sunday, with the decision made to abandon 72 hours in advance of the fixture.

Clerk of the course Jimmy Stevenson said: “We were heavy ground in the middle of last week and have been heavy ground since we raced on December 28.

“Obviously we couldn’t take much more rain and we’ve had 18 millimetres in the last three days, which has got into the ground and created waterlogging and some false ground.

“The forecast is not much better unfortunately and there’s a fair bit of rain to come yet, so we’ve been left with no choice really.”

Bangor-On-Dee racecourse will inspect on Monday ahead of their meeting on Thursday
Bangor-On-Dee racecourse will inspect on Monday ahead of their meeting on Thursday (Simon Marper/PA)

The situation looks just as bleak at Bangor ahead of their meeting on Thursday with both the hurdles and chase track currently unraceable.

There are areas of standing water which, due to height of river, are unable to drain and with further rain forecast throughout the week, an inspection has been called for 10am on Monday.