Bangor – 30th July 2021 - R W Hough & Sons Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle (Div I)

Bangor – 30th July 2021 – R W Hough & Sons Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (Div I)

Dynamic Kate finished 2nd here looking like the breathing operation has helped and that the step up in distance suited her really well.

There were four of us at Bangor and the course provides a brilliant ownership experience if there are only a few owners attending. Unfortunately, Gerald got stuck in traffic on the way up to the course and ended up turning back, so the group was myself, Nigel and Rainer who travelled up from the South East and Lawrence who came up from Birmingham.

All the way up to the track we were just waiting for the phone to ring from Neil to tell us that the ground was too soft and we could not run as it rained pretty much constantly on the journey. We actually stopped around 11 am to see if the clerk had updated the going description only to find that confusingly he had updated to say that the ground was unchanged (good) since the morning. Unable to see how this was possible, we found out as we got to just under ten miles from the course where the rain stopped and the roads looked dry and we were greeted by a car park steward who confirmed that it had not rained at the track since an early morning shower!

We were shown into the Owner’s Pavilion where we had an allocated table for the whole afternoon, with drinks served at the table, a carvery available at lunchtime accompanied by a half bottle of wine per person and cakes served mid-afternoon. We were able to go outside to see the horses in the paddock and watch the races and return inside between races. We had a very enjoyable afternoon!

Between us, we managed to back a few winners in the early races and despite a couple of showers in the afternoon, the ground still seemed to be on the soft side of good.

We headed over to the saddling area ahead of our race to see Kate and then went into the paddock where we met our jockey, Hugh Nugent. Both Hugh and I had spoken to Neil about tactics.

Kate was well behaved on the way to the start and as planned Hugh jumped Kate out towards the rear on the outside out wide to give her a sight of the hurdles. She was OK if a little deliberate at the first couple and OK down the back. She was good at the first in the straight but got into the bottom of what would be the last on the next circuit. It was a strong pace and Kate jumped the next well and started to move up when jumping the 5th last well. She looking to be going better than some when in close to the 4th last and was up to 6th going to three out. She jumped that well and started the turn for home in a decent enough position.

Swinging for home she was going strongly but maybe 12 lengths off the leader and she took 5th on the turn in. She clipped the top of the 2nd last but had taken off only just in third.

Coming down to the last she was moving into second with about four lengths to find when a slight stumble might have cost her some ground and momentum and she got underneath the last and pitched forward untidily which cost her a lot of momentum and her chance to win. She did however pull away from the third on the run in and finished well.

This was an excellent run and it was great to hear that despite making a noise with her breathing, Hugh did not feel that this had stopped her at all and that she had stayed on well at the end of the race. This is definitely a race that hopefully, she can build on as we go forwards.