Sean Bowen: It’s all about going where the winners are
Jockey and Coral ambassador Sean Bowen previews his five rides at Uttoxeter on Saturday.
I could have gone to Cheltenham on Saturday for a couple of rides, but it’s all about going where the winners are when you want to be champion jockey, so I’m heading up to Uttoxeter where I have a few solid chances. I’m on 99 winners at the time of writing, but hopefully with a bit of luck I’ll have brought the century up before I get to Uttoxeter on Saturday afternoon.
Booster Bob was a really nice winner of a bumper at Ayr last season, but then he disappointed us a little bit next time when third at Wetherby a few months later. We gave him a nice summer break after that and he made a winning start over hurdles here at Uttoxeter last month, so it makes sense to bring him back here. He was a bit keen and fresh that day, but still won with plenty in hand, so hopefully that run will have knocked that freshness out of him ahead of Saturday.
It’s never easy to win under a penalty, but he jumped really well last time, and I think he’ll be fine on the ground, so I think he goes there with a really good chance.
2.12 Uttoxeter – Rock On Tommy
He had been running really well Rock On Tommy, but he’s just been disappointing on his last few starts, so he needs to bounce back to form here. Three of his four wins have come over this course and distance, and he’s fairly versatile with regards to ground, so he shouldn’t have any excuses here on Saturday.
It is often the way with these handicappers that they run up a good sequence and struggle when they find themselves higher in the weights, but he’s not completely handicapped out of it if he can return to his best form.
Polyphonic ran very well at Southwell two starts ago on his first start for James Owen, and I thought he’d go and win at Kempton earlier this week, but he was very disappointing when finishing last of 13 there.
That was only five days ago, so it is a quick turnaround, but if he’s able to return to the form of that Southwell run then he’d certainly go here with some sort of a chance.
3.22 Uttoxeter – Pilgrims King
Pilgrims King is a horse of dad’s who has plenty of ability, but whether he decides to show it or not is another matter. He could go and win it on the bridle, but he’s probably just as likely to finish last, so it really depends what side of the bed he gets out of tomorrow morning.
He has blinkers on for the first time, so hopefully they’ll straighten him up, and he’s certainly weighted to go well if he’s on one of his good days.
Pleasington is a lovely big horse by Shantou, and I’m looking forward to him making his racecourse debut this weekend. He goes really nicely at home and went for a racecourse gallop on soft ground recently, and he did really seem to enjoy it. There’s a couple of nice horses in this race, but he’s definitely a horse we are really looking forward to getting started with.
Sean
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