Jim Crowley: I hope we can end the day on a winning note
Published:
Jockey and Coral ambassador Jim Crowley discusses the chances of his five rides at Doncaster on Thursday.
I’m at Doncaster for the opening day of the Leger meeting, and I start on Heritage House, a filly who seems to be improving with every run. She won well at Leicester last time, with the tongue tie on for the first time, and that’s kept on her again here.
She went up five pounds for that win, but a bigger question mark is the ground, as it was good to firm at Leicester, and it will be much softer here, but if she can cope with that, it’s not hard to see her having an each-way chance off bottom weight.
In the big sales race I ride Run Boy Run, who has had two starts and finished second both times. The winner of his debut race has since won at Ascot, and he was beaten by a Godolphin odds-on shot second time up, so there’s some substance to his two runs.
He drops back to six furlongs here, but he seems to have plenty of pace so I can’t see that being a problem. This is a big field for a big prize, but at decent odds I can see him going well.
I know the family of this filly well, having rode her dam Madame Chiang to big race success, and I also rode Ching Shih to finish third in last year’s Musidora at York. Her last run was arguably her best yet, as she finished second to Arrest at Newbury, and that one is a leading fancy for Saturday’s St Leger.
This filly has got to prove she stays the extra furlong of this mile six, but her style of running suggests she will, and she won’t mind any ease in the ground, so if she can follow up that Newbury form, she must have a great chance here, albeit she does have to give weight to the three-year-olds.
I’ve ridden Crystal Delight a few times previously, and we won at Lingfield last year, so I know he’s a horse who has some ability. The problem is he can be a hard puller, and sometimes goes a stride quicker than the jockey would like him to!
He’s a beautifully-bred four-year-old who was trained by Sir Michael Stoute, although he’s now been gelded. If the penny drops with him and he can settle early on, he does have an engine so there is hope to think he can outrun his odds.
I end the day in the Shadwell silks. Mafnood is a homebred son of Kingman I’ve always liked, he’s got better with every run, and scored at Haydock last time, on his third start. The form of that has worked out really well, with three of the seven he beat that day winning since then. We’re back over seven furlongs here, having won over a mile, but that won’t be an issue, and he’s run well on soft ground, so I hope we can end the day on a winning note.
Jim
