Sean Bowen: You’d have to say he’s the one to beat
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Jockey and Coral ambassador Sean Bowen previews his seven rides at Aintree on Boxing Day as the busy programme of Christmas racing gets under way.
I haven’t ridden her before, so I don’t know a whole lot about her, but she was disappointing on her first start for Neil Mulholland last time. She actually showed some decent form in Ireland when she was with Colm Murphy, so hopefully the step back in trip will see her return to something like that form.
There are a few nice unexposed mares in here, so it won’t be easy, but hopefully she can at least be competitive.
He’s obviously had quite a long time off Mac Tottie, so it will be nice to finally get him back on the track. He gave us all a great day when he won the Topham here a few years ago, so he’s a horse that means a lot to our family.
He’s a very good horse on his day, and hopefully he’ll have more big days in the future, but I think the main thing on his return is for him to have a positive experience, and run all the way to the line, anything after that would be a bonus.
I’ve never ridden Farren Glory before, but it’s really exciting to be on a horse with such a good chance in a big Grade 1 like this. There are a lot of horses in here with plenty of potential, but this lad has already won a Grade 1 over in Ireland, so based on that, you’d have to say he’s the one to beat.
It was a really good performance to win that Royal Bond the last day (pictured above), and he beat some very nice horses there, so hopefully he can step forward again from that. Some really top horses have won this over the years when it used to be run at Sandown, so hopefully this lad can add his name to that list, and I’m sure Gordon will have plenty of nice targets in mind for him in the spring.
He’d been doing well up until last time, and he was improving with every run, but he just took a backwards step at Cheltenham on his latest start. He was very good at Chepstow on his reappearance, but he just got lit up coming down the hill last time at Cheltenham, so he really needs to switch off and settle a bit better here.
I still think he’s nicely handicapped on the best of his novice form, so providing I can get him settled, then I think he goes there with a solid chance.
He returned from a while off in really good form last year when winning two of his three starts, but he was very disappointing at Cheltenham last time. He missed the start there, and everything that could have gone wrong sort of did, so I wouldn’t be in a rush to completely write him off after that.
We see him as a three-mile chaser, and I don’t think it was the trip that beat him last time, so hopefully with that run under his belt now, he can show a bit more here. It certainly won’t be easy under top weight, but I think the track will suit him, and he’s another one who I think goes there with a really nice chance.
He needs to sharpen his jumping up to be honest, he’s just been a bit slow and clumsy at his fences, so he needs to find a bit of fluency in the jumping department. He won in good style at Uttoxeter on his first run, but he was very disappointing at Ayr last time. He just got ran off his feet a bit, and he missed a few fences on the way round because he was going that bit too quick, so hopefully up in trip and on a bit of softer ground, he’ll find things a bit easier.
He’s still a horse we all think plenty of, he just needs to put that bad run behind him, and hopefully he can do just that on Boxing Day.
I have sat on him once at home, but he’s not a horse I know a lot about to be honest. He’s a brother to Houvari who Olly also trains, and he’s quite a nice horse, so we wouldn’t mind if this lad turns out the same way.
It won’t be easy here as he’s making his debut against a few decent horses with experience, but Olly’s horses usually know their job, so I’m sure it won’t be too much of a problem. I think he’s a nice horse, but he hasn’t shown loads at home yet, so we’ll be happy if he has a nice experience and gives us something to build on.
Sean
