Rafella ready for another challenge at Chepstow
Hopefully, the Michael Scudamore trained brown filly, Rafella, learnt a lesson from her last Chepstow trip and she is not going to repeat those mistakes today while running Poker At bet365 Handicap (Div I) at the same venue.
The four-year-old veteran filly was about to win the Medinet UK Handicap on August 27 but she lost confidence at the eleventh hour and finished as the runner-up with Nezami being the winner.
It is expected that, this time, the fantastic filly will run audaciously over 7 furlongs and 16 yards from start to the end. But unlike heavy surface of the previous time, she will face a good to soft ground today.
To taste victory, the daughter of Iffraaj out of Cappella will have to compete against a dozen of rivals. Running under the new jokey, Kieren Fox, she is likely to achieve her second career win----the first one came in July 2010.
Rafella has been struggling badly since the last two years. Throughout 2011, she experienced a worse lean patch that she extended to 2012 as well.
After an extensive training, she ran the first race of the calendar year in June, but failed to make impact again. She did the same in the two subsequent outings. Then, she was able to reach the podium in her last start, but missed top position again.
The filly has an ideal chance to break this jinx today. From the opposition camp, no one is likely to challenge her except Marah Music who is h**l-bent to break his maiden.
The Peter Makin trained bay gelding has demonstrated some decent performances this year. After finishing second in Sharp's Doom Bar Claiming Stakes on May 17, he repeated the same on June 21.
After a tough battle, the veteran horse was again forced to stand as the runner-up in his second last start on August 8. That was the Heineken UK Maiden Handicap.
In his first outing at Chepstow, Marah Music got 6th position against 9 competitors. May be it is his time to taste his maiden success. Hence, a close clash will be witnessed today. Good luck to all the contestants.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and do not reflect Bettor.Com’s editorial policy.
Tags: