Tarateeno

Tarateeno made a pleasing start to his chasing career when finishing a good second to the useful Watamu Bay in a Class 3 novice chase at Exeter. He jumped a bit to his left throughout, but travelled okay under regular rider Michael Murphy. There were only three runners in the race, and Watamu Bay was a red-hot favourite, but Tarateeno made good progress to chase the leader up the straight, after Murphy had just dropped him out earlier in the race. He got to within a couple of lengths of the leader, and probably gave favourite-backers a bit of a fright before Paul Nicholls’s horse picked up and went on to win well.

Watamu Bay went off at odds of 1/5 here, he is a classy sort, he had previous experience over fences and he had race fitness coming into this, but Tarateeno certainly didn’t disgrace himself. The son of Kayf Tara jumped well on his debut over fences, travelled well when making progress up to the favourite and may have got a little tired late on, understandable on his seasonal debut. He should be better going left-handed next time, as he tended to jump to that direction over his fences and he will certainly be better with this run under his girth – he usually does come on for a run at the start of a season.

He was a progressive hurdler last season, he improved by 26lb from the start of the season to the end, and he can make his mark now over the larger obstacles. He will be interesting next time out, and he could be under-rated given that he comes from a relatively small yard.

19th November 2010