Sean Bowen hopes to cause upset with Booster Bob
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Jockey and Coral ambassador Sean Bowen spoke to us about his four rides at Sandown on Saturday as he continues his bid to become champion jockey.
Booster Bob steps up in grade here but his last few wins have been really impressive, so he definitely deserves a crack at this sort of level.
He was quite keen in his bumpers and in his first start over hurdles but he did settle much better last time at Uttoxeter, so that will stand him in good stead here.
He stays well, and I think he’ll relish the track, so there’s a lot in his favour. It was bottomless last time at Uttoxeter, and he absolutely loved it, so the testing conditions won’t hold any fears for him either.
Willmount of Nicky Henderson’s looked very good at Ludlow last time so he looks like the one we’ll all have to beat but hopefully we can go there and cause an upset.
Another Day Out goes back over hurdles here and she’s been a bit disappointing on her last few starts.
She made a nice start over hurdles when second at Southwell back in March but she was well behind the winner when third at Hereford the following month and she was never really travelling over fences at Stratford last time when I had to pull her up.
She lost her confidence quite early in the race last time and after that she just really struggled to get into a rhythm, so hopefully she’ll fare better back over hurdles.
It doesn’t look the strongest race, so hopefully she can get competitive, but the ground is a bit of an unknown if I’m honest.
Her two decent runs have come on good to soft so we’ll find out this weekend whether she handles the more testing conditions.
It’s always nice to pick up a ride in the big races so I’m delighted to have picked up a spare ride on Hughie Morrison’s horse Not So Sleepy in the rearranged Fighting Fifth.
He’s not getting any younger but he proved on the flat this summer that he still retains plenty of ability, so hopefully he can translate that back to hurdling this weekend.
I’ve never ridden him before but he did dead-heat in this race a couple of years ago and he has some really good form to his name at this top level, so he’s definitely entitled to take his chance.
Constitution Hill is a bit of a monster, and I’m sure he’ll be very difficult to beat, but there wouldn’t be much between the rest of us, so hopefully we can run a nice race and pick up some decent prize money.
I haven’t ridden Arqoob before but he was a very talented horse on the flat and he seems to have translated plenty of that ability to hurdling since joining Lucy Wadham.
He made a nice start to the season when third at Plumpton back in October, then he took a decent step forward to win over this C&D last month.
A 5lb rise for that win seems reasonably fair and although he’s up in grade here, he gets to carry a nice light weight, which should help him in these conditions, so hopefully he goes there with a real nice chance.
Two for the tracker
Although it’s been frustrating to lose so many meetings to the weather this week, I did manage to ride a few winners at the back end of last week and over the weekend.
I was thrilled to get Act Of Authority’s head back in front at Bangor on Saturday and he’s definitely a nice horse worth keeping an eye on.
I’m sure he’ll go up in grade now after that win but he won with plenty of authority last weekend, so I’d hope he could hold his own when he tackles a higher grade in the not-too-distant future.
The one I’d be most hopeful can win next time though is Ukantango.
I finished second on him at Wetherby last week and while he wasn’t beaten far by Cerendipity , I think the ground was just slightly too soft for him to be honest.
Even though he didn’t enjoy the conditions, he ran a really admirable race and I’d be very hopeful he can return to winnings ways next time if we can find some slightly better ground for him.
Sean
