Jive Factor
The weather has been pleasant here in Newmarket and we could do with some rain! I did not think that I would be saying that at this time of year and the Limekilns are opening at the weekend. We did not want any rain out in Dubai but unfortunately we got a lot of it and Trip To Paris never went with any zest in the Dubai Gold Cup. It is back to the drawing board with him and we will freshen him up before dropping him in class, hopefully we can reignite some spark in him.
Despite the terrible weather there was some fantastic racing and Arrogate was amazing. Some people are now trying to compare him against Frankel which is very difficult to do as dirt and turf are very different disciplines and arguably they cannot be weighed up against each other. What cannot be debated is the fact that the pair are both Superstars in their own right. Jack Hobbs was very impressive in The Sheema Classic and will be hard to beat this season whilst Vazirabad loves the soft ground and it was a smart performance to make up the ground he did when winning The Dubai Gold Cup.
We had two runners at Lingfield last Saturday. Arnarson was unlucky in the mile Maiden as the winner hung left across him when he was travelling well in behind and he never found his stride once he was snatched up. Manjaam ran a solid race in second and was worn down late on over a trip that possibly just stretched him this early in the season. All being well he will now go up to Newcastle for a valuable handicap there on Good Friday.
Jive Factor is our only runner today in the first at Chelmsford. I hope he will run well as he is a big horse who always looked like he would be one who improves with age. I feel that he will appreciate this step up in trip to a mile and a quarter. He has a good Apprentice on who takes off a valuable three pounds but I do feel he will improve on what he shows this evening as he is still learning about what racing is all about. There are some unexposed sorts in the field and like us Zenovia has only had three runs. Moneyoryourlife, Beauchamp Oval and Bonnie Arlene all have plenty of experience and they look quite exposed but they are all battle hardened and rarely run a bad race. It is a competitive race and Lady Hester cannot be ruled out either having only had the four starts.