MUR Club Update
Having two 6 lengths winners last week, we knew the handicapper would put Bird For Life and Misu Pete up but he was very harsh indeed. Bird went up 7lb to 68 and even worse Pete went up 9lb to 65. Bird For Life was very impressive and I think she is genuinely progressing this year so I can half understand it. They haven’t put her turf mark up so we have plenty to play with there, if she can find some form on the turf.
Pete’s new mark on the other hand is baffling! He’s a 7 year old; his best winning mark was 62 when he was 6 years old. Horses don’t generally progress beyond 5 or 6; he’s just taken advantage of a weak race on suitable ground. We actually contacted the handicapper to see if he would be more lenient but he wouldn’t budge.
So he is due to run in the 5:45 at Chepstow tomorrow and he will run off the same mark as Newbury last Friday. It’s very tempting but the ground is drying up fast and Chepstow is a bit rougher and more undulating than Newbury. The weather in the next 24 hours is unpredictable; we will leave him in the race for now; just in case Chepstow gets some rain. Otherwise we will pull him out.
Bird To Love will run at Windsor at 5pm on Monday evening. It’s over 1 mile 3 furlongs which might be a bit short for her but she ran well enough there before. Also we don’t know what the ground is going to be like; a little bit of rain would be welcome. The declaration is on Saturday so we will know more about the race then.