Racing Post

Mackem and Sneddz ready to go but Rockley can’t make his point

Similarly to last week, we began at Ayr on Monday where our newcomer, Top Medici, made his debut in the bumper.

He was a bit of an unknown quantity leading into the race and he still is to a degree.

As a half-brother to Grey Tikkana his job isn’t really to be running in bumpers so it was more a run for experience more than anything else.

He will need a trip when he goes hurdling, as his sibling does, and there will be other days further down the line for him.

Then, our big day of the week happens at Newcastle on Tuesday when their all-weather returns after a short break.

The Mackem Torpedo would probably be our best chance of a winner and I hope he will be competitive in division two of the Class 6 handicap.

There are a few reasons for thinking that he might be – this will be his second start post-wind-op and that can often be the best time to catch them.

He has had a recent run to put himself straight, he knows now he is able to breathe, and the indications from his work at home are that the operation has been beneficial for him.

Of course, he now has to go out and do it, but he’s had plenty of work at home since that latest start, and while sometimes a higher draw is preferable at Newcastle, he wants to be covered up anyway so it’s not as important for him.

Jason Hart, on a high at present, is in the plate and that’s no bad thing the way he is going.

Then in the very next race Samurai Sneddz gets the chance to race against horses of comparable ability for the first time in the nursery over a mile.

I’ve said before that I think he has something to work with in terms of ability, and the novice events and maidens he has contested up until now were never going to be his cup of tea.

However, now he’s in a 0-65, our horse has a reasonable mark and I would like to think he will be competitive.

In time he might prefer a slightly longer trip, but this will do for now and races can sometimes change quite quickly at Newcastle so hopefully he will be staying on inside the final furlong.

Our raiding party should have been larger, but our old warrior Rockley Point got balloted out.

That’s frustrating, but there will be plenty of lowgrade sprints coming up so he will get in sooner or later.

There’s a weekend meeting at Kelso on Sunday, but I don’t think I’ll be in action there. So our next racecourse appearance after that will be at Hexham the following Wednesday.

Flaming Glory is pencilled in for that meeting and I can’t wait to get him back again after his good return at Kelso. That seems a while ago now, but he is one to look forward to.

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2021-11-30T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-30T08:00:00.0000000Z

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