Luke Morris thinks he has a big chance at Wolves on Saturday
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The All Weather Champion Jockey talks us through his weekend rides, discusses racing tactics and the importance of a good draw…
Youl’ll often read about my thoughts on the draw in my blog and that’s because in all-weather racing the draw, and where you are on the track, makes a big difference.
In most all-weather races you’re on the turn a lot so track position can be vital. You get a lot of uneven run races which then emphasise track position even more. Draw can be very important, especially at Wolverhampton as you have a lot of starts – the 5f, 7f, 1m½f and the 1m4f races – where you’ve got a furlong or less until you reach a turn.
Getting the right early position in a race is important as from the first furlong to perhaps the last two, the positions the horses are in don’t change that much and if you’re in the wrong place it counts against you.
The biases in terms of speed and position are increased at some courses and a lot of it can depend on how the track has been worked and harrowed.
At somewhere like Chelmsford the official going never changes from standard but the track can ride very differently from meeting to meeting. There’s no information about how the track’s riding beyond the going description so you have to either judge it from watching or riding in a couple of races at the meeting.
Riding from the front is often beneficial at Chelmsford but it seems to be tricky to win on the front end at Newcastle. With the long straight you get racing a lot earlier in races and they closers come to you between the four and the three pole to challenge.
At Wolverhampton and Lingfield you have a short straight so the leaders only really get taken on with a couple of furlongs left, whereas Newcastle you get softened up a lot of the time which helps the closers.
She’s got a tricky draw. You have to give her plenty of respect as she’s a nice filly from a big yard and Charlie Hills often runs fillies in hoods so I wouldn’t be too worried about that. The market will probably be your best guide to her chances.
Over 5f being drawn in stall nine isn’t great. He’s got a bit to find on the figures so a nicer draw would have helped offset that, but from that draw we’ll just have to try and find a helpful position and ride a race from there.
He likes to go forward and race prominently so I like his draw in stall one. He’s had a short break since his last run and he really enjoys all-weather racing so I’d like to think he’ll be in the mix once again.
I’m not riding in this race but it looks his race to lose. He’s the class act in the race and while he’s probably only going to be 80-90 per cent fit with a view of getting him spot on for the Dubai Turf, I think he’ll take all the beating.
Summerinthecity looks the horse to beat. Masamah’s been a great servant to connections and he ran well on his latest outing. He’s got to be respected in this grade.
It’s his first run for Denis Quinn so perhaps a change of scenery and the visor will bring out that bit of improvement needed to get his head in front. He’s a course and distance winner and everything looks set up for him to run a big race.
He beat Major Jumbo last time and the pair of them pulled eight lengths clear of the third so it looks strong form for the grade. He’s got plenty of speed and tends to hang left, so going left-handed around Wolverhampton should help him. He’s still on the up and has a big chance.
He’s got a tricky draw so we’ll look to tuck in and get a lead on him. He’s on a stiff enough mark at the moment and will need things to drop right.
She’s an interesting runner. Off her mark she’s not going to need to be a superstar to take a hand on her handicap debut and I think she warrants plenty of respect.
Cheers,
Luke
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