Channon Juvenile To Thrill Bath Crowd
As juvenile races go, the EBF Parkgardencentres.Co.Uk Novice Stakes at Bath on Thursday does not look one of the strongest contests on paper. Only six youngsters are set to go to post at 2.20pm and this looks an ideal opportunity for the Mick Channon trained The Thrill Is Gone, to land the second win of her career. On all known form, this one is far better than any other horse in the line up.
She is a daughter of Bahamian Bounty and certainly possesses a lot of his early speed, as she showed when making most of the running to beat Never Can Stop by half a length. That win came in a Lingfield maiden back in June and she came very close to following up next time in a novice event at Chester. Making her customary fast start, she made virtually every yard of the running until caught on the line by Leiba Leiba.
The stable obviously felt she was ready to step up in class on her final outing, where the filly contested a listed contest at Sandown. She was up against some stiff opposition there and lost nothing in defeat when runner-up to the Richard Hannon trained Zebedee. She is sure to find this task a lot easier, as it represents a marked drop in class and is sure to prove difficult to catch given her running style.
Ron Harris has his horses in good form now and he has the top weight here in Belle Bayardo. This one is bidding to land a hat trick of wins having won a nursery handicap at Lingfield and then showing some improvement to score in a decent novice event at Chepstow. On the latter occasion, he made virtually all the running and stayed on really strongly to beat Inagh River by four lengths.
As good an effort as that was, he is going to have to improve again here, conceding ten pounds to the Channon horse. He may well have to adopt different tactics also, as early pace ratings suggest he will not be able to compete for the lead.
A better option may be to consider the chances of the Dennis Coakley trained Tipsy Girl. She surprised quite a few people when making a winning debut at Brighton back in May, as beforehand it looked as though the run would do her the world of good. Despite her inexperience and being very slowly away, she ran on strongly in the closing stages to beat Catalinas Diamond by half a length.
She followed that by running in the Empress Stakes at Newmarket but failed to overcome what appeared to be a gulf in class. On her final start, she put in an improved performance though she still looked very green. Having been slowly away once again, she stayed on nicely in the final furlong to finish fourth behind Veil Of Night in what was a good nursery handicap at Leicester. If she were to step up a little on that run, then she would have an outside chance here. Whatever the outcome, she looks likely to make up into a nice three-year-old.
The only other runner of note is the once raced Snow Bear. John Quinn’s filly landed something of a gamble on her only start, when beating Miserere by three parts of a length in a Catterick maiden. That was not much of a race even though she won it well. Since that victory back in May, the stable have been badly out of form with no wins from their last 20 runners. With that in mind, she is probably chasing minor honours at best.
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