Buster and Shavansky At Kempton

After a quiet spell, we actually have runners on three consecutive days with Icebuster at Kempton on Wednesday evening and Shavansky there twenty four hours later. Both were last seen running creditable races in the Silver Cambridgeshire and these runs will put both spot on for the £50,000 London Middle Distance Final in December.

Icebuster came out on top at Newmarket, running a cracking race to finish fifth of twenty five (both Scottish Star and Silver Dixie were behind him) and this race this evening looks weaker. Although he hasn't won on the AW, he has plenty of solid form on the surface and Kempton certainly suits. However, he does need a strong pace to be at his most effective, as a slow start normally leaves him at the back of the field, while it's not ideal that he hasn't run for 54 days but there just hasn't been a suitable opportunity as he can't run on soft ground.

Shavansky was eighth at Newmarket, a solid effort as they didn't go quick enough for him and he seems better on the AW now he's well into the veteran stage. He was a course and distance winner two starts back and provided he gets a strong pace to chase, he has eachway chances with Shelly Birket taking off a useful five pounds.

Southwell wasn't too successful yesterday. Unfortunately, Madame Kintyre was slow to stride which made life very difficult from stall fourteen. She was only beaten four lengths in to seventh and with a better draw/break would have been placed. She showed she acts on the surface and in a slightly lower grade she should find a race this winter. While Blunos was plain disappointing, perhaps he just doesn't enjoy any AW surface. 

Back At Sunny Southwell

It's nice to have a couple of runners on the fibresand at Southwell, a surface which our horses tend to enjoy and the 465 mile round trip normally provides the yard with some prize money. Both Madame Kintyre and Blunos are having their first experience of the fibresand and while you can never be certain that they will handle the unique surface, especially the kickback, we are hopeful both can run well.

Madame Kintyre missed a very good opportunity at Bath when the weighing room flooded and this is the first race she has actually got in for over a month which has been extremely frustrating as she has been in good form on her most recent starts. Her dam Chorus loved the fibresand surface at Southwell and her half-sister Ishi ran up to her best when tried on the surface, so it should suit. It's a shame she is so wide in fourteen, although that is preferable to being stuck on the dead rail up the inside. A mark of 51 is still workable (has useful form in the 60s) and she should put up a good show and as long as she handles the fibresand, she should have a profitable winter on the surface.

Blunos shaped nicely on his third start at Windsor but has been very disappointing in two handicap outings at Wolverhampton. That surface has received a lot of criticism in recent weeks and rightly so, the mix of fibresand on top of polytrack is causing an inconsistent surface that a lot of horses don't seem to be handling. Hopefully that is the reason why he has run so badly the last twice but he has dropped to a mark of 50, this looks a very weak race and it will be disappointing if he isn't in the three.

We have been very quiet on the runners front recently but Galatian shaped much better when third on his most recent start. He has had a lot of issues with his feet but if his confidence builds, he is very well handicapped off 68 (last win off 72) and should do well this winter. Unfortunately, there are no opportunities at Kempton in the next few weeks, which is the AW track that will suit him best but hopefully there will be lots of races in the New Year.

Weak Looking Maiden For Modem

It has been pretty quiet for the yard in recent weeks, with no runner in a fortnight as most of the Flat string are now on their winter holidays, while those that are racing on the AW through the winter are still a few weeks off a run. However, we could certainly do with a winner and it looks as if Modem has a good chance at Lingfield tomorrow.

The Motivator gelding was green on debut but showed plenty of promise when finishing third in very heavy ground at Ffos Las. He was slow to stride before making an impressive mid-race move, he looked the winner approaching the final furlong before getting tired in the ground. He improved on that effort when fifth in a much more competitive maiden at Windsor on his second start, staying on nicely at the finish. Thursday's maiden at Lingfield looks much weaker, he probably has the best form on offer already and he remains open to improvement. The potential 'fly in the ointment' is the Luca Cumani trained Bouclier, owned by the Wildenstein's and this Zamindar colt is a half brother to Beauty Pagent (RPR119) and Barocci (RPR110). While the Cumani horses normally improve for the outing, he did have a similar type win at Kempton on Tuesday evening.

Blunos returns to Wolverhampton after disappointing on his handicap debut there five weeks ago. The track was riding extremely deep on that occasion and the has tightened up since then. He ran well on his third start at Windsor and a repeat of that could see him go close in what looks a weak looking Class 6 Nursery.