Tom Scudamore: “I am very sweet on the chances of Nordic Combined”
Coral ambassador previews Saturday’s Newbury rides
13.15 Newbury – Tiquer
He’s 4lb higher than when he won around here. You don’t see him on the track very often. His last run was when he was 4th in the Sefton.
He is a decent ride to pick up. It’s a competitive race but he is weighted to run well.
13.50 Newbury – Nordic Combined
He is my best ride of the day. I think the step up in trip will really suit him. He hasn’t got his head in front yet but hopefully that will change today. He is very consistent and runs well in these big handicaps. I think two and a half miles will really suit him and I am very sweet on his chances.
He ran well at Exeter last time, and the time before that at Ascot. He keeps me fit when he’s raced over two miles and I can’t imagine him travelling any better over two and a half miles but that might mean he’ll be finishing a bit quicker than the others.
15.00 Newbury – Daklondike
Daklondike is a monkey, he has his moments, but he’s a very talented monkey. In an ideal world, I could have done with softer going but I don’t think it is as competitive a race as some previous years.
Normally in this race you are looking for something that might make up into a Gold Cup horse, but there doesn’t look like there’s any Denman types or that class of horse in the field. So that’s in our favour. He is very quirky and you can never be that confident in him as a result.
The horse that stand out for me is Borice. You have to respect Galway Plate winners. He took a bit of time to settle when he came over from France. When you see he’s won a Galway Plate and yet he’s out of a half sister to a three and half mile chaser, you’d like to think the step up in trip will suit him.
The Galway Plate is a bit like the Ladbrokes Trophy in that it’s won by Gold Cup class horses, so if there is going to be a winner that might step up into Gold Cup company then Borice might be the one.
The Tizzards have got a strong hand in this. West Approach has to step up again on what he did at Cheltenham. Mister Malarky has to step up a good deal on what he did at Ascot. You know where Elegant Escape is but he’s possibly got too much weight. Robinsfirth is a very solid horse and he’d have a chance although he’d probably prefer it if the mud was flying
Tom
