Usher to hit the right notes with Careful
Mark Usher’s small team based at Lambourn appear to be coming into form having sent out a couple of winners in the past fortnight. The opening race on Brighton’s Wednesday card looks an ideal opportunity to add to recent successes when Best Be Careful goes for the Corringham Social Club Nursery at 2.30pm. Seven runners are set to go to post for this juvenile event over five furlongs the filly by Exceed And Excel comes into the contest on the back of a recent victory at Lingfield.
She had already shown a good deal of promise in two previous starts where she finished third on both occasions, and losing her maiden tag last time came as little surprise. Having sat just behind the leaders in the early stages, her jockey Liam Keniry pushed her into the lead at the furlong pole and she held on well to beat Upark Flyer by half a length.
The handicapper may well have been lenient here, letting her in of a mark of just 67, as Upark Flyer is a 66-rated horse and she beat that one comfortably. Drawn against the rail here, she should be able to obtain a handy position early on and pick them up at the distance. She is likely to start as the favourite, but on form she is a worthy market leader.
Her market rival is Frankish Dynasty from the Paul Cole yard. In four starts so far, he has not shown a great deal, but he could well do a little better now that he is in handicaps. However, as a colt by Holy Roman Emperor, this trip definitely looks on the short side and his previous running style would appear to back this up.
Racing over the minimum trip at Bath last time, he stayed on quite nicely in the closing stages without really posing a threat. Although he came home in fifth behind the eventual winner Stunning In Purple, he was only two lengths adrift at the finish and therefore a step up in distance would surely be beneficial.
The most exposed runner in the field is Mick Channon’s Master Macho who has already run 15 times, recording one victory in the process. That came in a small maiden event at Chester at the beginning of July where he got up close home to beat Earl Wild by half a length. Since that win, he has suffered two defeats, but may have had excuses on both occasions.
On his penultimate outing at Sandown, he was travelling well enough when badly hampered at the two-furlong marker. That effectively put him out of the contest, as he was unable to recover from that point. When racing at Thirsk last weekend, he ran creditably in finishing second to the very well handicapped Face The Problem. Although beaten six lengths by the winner, he did have a couple of higher rated horses behind him, as well as Melodize who re-opposes here. Therefore he could well get into the frame once again.
Of the remaining runners, Ed Dunlop’s Volcanic Dust would appeal most. A filly by Ivan Denisovich, she has only had four outings to date and looks the type on breeding to make a nice three-year-old. Although she has not made much of an impression so far, her run last time at Leicester was far more encouraging.
Having appeared a bit keen in the early stages, she made good ground at halfway and looked to have every chance of making the frame at the very least. Unfortunately as she was about to mount her challenge, she met trouble in running and failed to recover afterwards. Having been knocked out of her stride, she came home in fifth behind Veil Of Night but she finished close enough to a couple of horses who are rated above 80 to warrant some respect.
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