You’re Hired so unlucky

Just a few notes on horses owned by good friends of mine.

I’ve written recently about Ray Greatorex’s Swiss Pride, who had a poor run through in the nursery at Goodwood on the Friday and took a few bumps and bangs for his pains. Ray tells me that, according to trainer Richard Hughes, the horse was a bit sore afterwards and will be on the easy list for a while.

It’s a pity because the form continues to look very interesting. The winner of that Goodwood race, Don Armado, ran a cracker in fourth at York on Wednesday, while Swiss Pride also has form with Alfie Solomons, who chased up 33/1 winner Red Balloons in the sales race on the Knavesmire on Thursday. (You’ll never get any ‘after-timing’ here, but Red Balloons, a typical Fahey winner of this sort of race, had previously finished alongside The Mackem Bullet, who all but landed the Lowther. Timeform had Red Balloons only 2lb off the top-rated – another of Fahey’s – so credit to them.)

I always thought that the Stewards’ Stakes, a consolation race on Stewards’ Cup day, was a weakfish affair and to me it was a great pity that George Materna’s Open Wide ended up in the big one when so many came out prior to declaration time, presumably because of the fast ground. Anyway, the ‘cut’ did not come where we expected and Open Wide ran all right without troubling the leaders.

I think he’s have just about won the consolation, an opinion that was consolidated when he finished a very good third in the valuable sprint final at Windsor last Monday evening. Ryan Moore rode and for a few strides I thought he was getting there but Open Wide just went under in a three-way photo. It’s no use dwelling on these things and the horse will not always get the flat-out gallop he needs but there should be another sprint in him at some point.

George was terribly unlucky with You’re Hired at Brighton on Wednesday. Amanda Perrett had got the horse back to his best and considered him fairly handicapped in a mile and a half affair where Luca Cumani’s runner was likely to start favourite. To cut a long story short, Jason Watson managed to get You’re Hired quite badly boxed in a six-runner field and, by the time he came out and around, the race was nearly over. You’re Hired surged forward but went down by a head and a neck – the unluckiest loser I’ve seen for a while.

Of course, you never know what the instructions were, so no blame is apportioned. But the youngster had ridden a similar race on the rascal Lightning Charlie the day before and got away with it, so maybe he was tempted to try another exaggerated waiting ploy. You’re Hired should win soon but this was a golden chance.

I don’t know why Paul Cole’s Upstaging came out of the Great St Wilfrid at Ripon, even eschewing the consolation race, as well. It’s an undulating track, not for everyone, so maybe we’ll profit from the sidestep. We still have the Portland at Doncaster and the Ayr Gold and Silver Cups and I believe Upstaging, third in last year’s Stewards’ Cup, has a big handicap in him. Interestingly, he was taken over by the King Power people earlier this year and they seem to have any amount of money to spend.

More immediately, stable-companion Baron Bolt goes to Goodwood on Friday evening and has a very fair chance at the weights in the sprint, where he will appreciate the return to six furlongs. You know all about Blakeney Point, who has Jamie Spencer on top in the Ebor and should go close, while Roger Charlton has turned to Ryan Moore for Kassar in the last at York, also on Friday.

This looks a much harder race than he apprentices’ handicap which rounded things off at Glorious Goodwood but I formed the impression there that Kassar had a bit of a laugh with Adam McNamara and may prove a different animal with a no-nonsense man on top, which will certainly be the case here. It’s a big step-up but a very interesting booking.

To listen to Ian’s line daily please call 09068 888 111

Updated daily by 1130 am

Our Service Charge is 65p per minute and your telecom provider will add their own access charge (which we don’t agree with). Please contact your provider for exact charges.