20 Winners and Two Channel 4 Runners for HWR

11-03-2016

NEWS: TOLETHORPE made an impressive debut win and took the yard’s tally to 20 wins for the season, from just 70 runs it has wetted the appetite for this weekend. Saturday at Sandown will see the yard send out Affaire D’Honneur and Woolstone One in the feature races on Channel 4. Both hold excellent claims in their respective races. It is without doubt the biggest day yet for HWR and we are delighted to be sending out horses at this level, which is where we want to be at!! ARZALMISSESCHELTENHAMFORAINTREE-RPARTICLE ENTRIES: AFFAIRED'HONNEUR will take his chance in the Imperial Cup 3.10 at Sandown Park tomorrow. He finished an unlucky and eye-catching 4th in the Betfair Hurdle last time out, so this was the logical place to come next off his rating of 133. He will face 14 rivals in a competitive heat, containing plenty of unexposed rivals. Granted a decent position and some luck in running we’d be very surprised if he wasn’t right in the shake-up.  There seems to be a fair bit of pace on which should suit and the testing ground should suit him better than others. He goes there with a favourite’s chance and we are looking forward to it. AFFAIRED'HONNEURRACINGPOSTARTICLE WOOLSTONEONE runs in the Listed Fillies and Mares bumper at Sandown tomorrow at 3.45. She has been a very impressive winner on both her starts this year and now steps up in trip to compete for this listed prize.  She is the only 4yo in the line-up and receives weight from the rest of the field, couple that with her liking for very testing ground we feel she should definitely give Copper Kay something to think about. Wooly has earned this step up in class, she is a very talented and exciting filly! REPORTS: FRIZZO finished a well held 3rd at Doncaster last Friday. The plan was to go up to Doncaster for some better ground but unfortunately that didn’t materialise. 18mm of rain turned the advertised good ground to soft. Nico de Boinville jumped Frizz off in front, but you could see from an early stage that he was struggling on the ground.  He stuck at it though, jumping from fence to fence and leading the field for the majority of the contest. As the field turned for home the Frizz wasn’t able to quicken up with the eventual first and second and plugged on for 3rd. Although the ground was against him, he showed a willing attitude and probably ran into two well handicapped horses on the day. We are desperate to get him back on some better ground. TOLETHORPE won in impressive fashion on his debut for the yard at Huntingdon on Sunday. The overnight rain meant he only took on 3 rivals, but all had run to a decent level on their previous racecourse appearances.  Gavin Sheehan dropped Tolethorpe in and he switched off nicely behind a fairly strong gallop. The field got racing turning out of the back straight, Gavin asked Tolethorpe to take closer order and he did just that. He swept around the field very stylishly, quickening away to win by 11 lengths. He is a very exciting prospect with a fantastic attitude, Gavin also felt he would appreciate some better ground. Tolethorpe is very much a horse to look forward to and has a bright future. SCARPER finished 7th on his first racecourse appearance at Lingfield on Monday. He showed a very professional attitude in the preliminaries and took the occasion in very well. Gavin Sheehan jumped him off in a handy position and he travelled very powerfully throughout the contest. The race started to develop Gavin asked Scarper to mount his challenge at the 4 furlong pole and he picked up nicely. Unfortunately he didn’t handle the downhill bend into the straight and slipped back through the field to finish a well held 7th. It was a promising debut, unfortunately he has sustained a significant setback and won’t be seen again this year. Until Monday where we will do the Cheltenham runners.......... But to get you in the mood, have a read of the attached ever fascinating festival guide written every year by Dan Watkins. Dan is a proud part Owner of Polstar, below is an extract taken from the County hurdle build up and I would like to personally thank Dan for his very kind words; ''Finally a chance to discuss Harry Whittington, a young trainer who we entrusted with our horse Polstar when he was starting out a couple of years back. You can question our judgement of horse flesh (although Polstar has done us proud for such a cheap buy), but you can’t question our human talent spotting as Harry has shown his true colours this season with an awesome strike rate from a relatively small yard. He has lots of talent and an excellent team. If he has a Cheltenham runner then Bigmartre or Affaire D’Honeure could be the ones here. Despite their efforts this season both though look too low in the weights to make the cup. Bigmartre is owned by my friend Phil, a huge enthusiast who deserves a Festival runner. The horse has been progressive this year and you can draw a line through a muddy defeat at Haydock last time – the horse is in great form (according to the ever-bullish owner) but surely the numbers are against him here. Affaire D’Honeure needs even more to drop out – but his 4 th in the big race at Newbury when wholly unsuited by missing the start showed that he has the ability to mix it in a big handicap like this. I would be sweet on his chances if he ran here, but the uncertainty of making it is likely to tilt the balance to a run in the Imperial Cup which precedes the festival at Sandown. I think he could win there – which interesting would earn him the bonus of a penalty – which may help him get in the race – and the opportunity to win a bonus for any horse doubling up from that Sandown race at Cheltenham,. I don’t know if he would be suited by a 6 day turnaround if that were the case but he would be interesting. I will certainly back him at Sandown – and if he were to win and reappear then I can reinvest some winnings as a fun follow-up.''