DAILY RACING PREVIEW BY ANDY HOLDING
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 22
2.57 LISTOWEL
It didn’t take too long for the usual front-running track bias to work its way to the fore at the Kerry venue here yesterday and DRAGON OF MALTA, one of the chief beneficiaries on the day, looks set to take advantage of similar set up 24 hours later.
The nine-year-old has a straightforward run style of jumping well and going hard from the gate but by his standards, he didn’t break as alertly as normal in his bid to rack up yet another course victory and he had to work hard just to obtain a decent position by halfway.
To his great credit, however, he stuck to his task manfully all the way down the straight and despite the late misdemeanour by the jockey on the eventual runner-up, the son of Dragon Pulse held on for a game victory.
Normally, you would be against a horse who had a hard race turning out again so quickly, but as this lad proved last season, he can take back-to-back races in his stride and providing he hits the lids with a bit more momentum this time, he could prove hard to catch if getting on the favoured front end.
DRAGON OF MALTA – 1-point win@10-3
5.30 SOUTHWELL
WINSTON’S WARRIOR’s overall profile strongly suggests he much prefers an all-weather surface to the grass and following another quality effort at Kempton last time out to back up that view, Charlie Hills’ gelding rates the value pick at the morning prices.
So far to date, the son of Churchill has a record on an artificial surface that reads 221312 and his latest instalment at the Sunbury was right up there with some of his better efforts on the data.
Going as well as anything two out, he only succumbed to the very well backed Shiplake in the closing stages but with the pair nicely clear of the rest and the speed figure very good, it is hard to knock him in any way, shape or form.
A comfortable winner on his only previous visit to today’s track, his prospects of maintaining that record appear good and it would come as something of a surprise if he wasn’t involved in the outcome.
WINSTON’S WARRIOR – 1-point win@4-1