Sego Success

Sego Success was very good in making all the running to win the three-mile handicap chase at Doncaster on Saturday.

Sent to the front from flagfall by Wayne Hutchinson in his first-time cheekpieces, he seemed to enjoy himself out in front, he was able to measure up his fences nicely. A really good jump at the fourth last fence had his rivals on the stretch and, even though Reaping The Reward closed on him, and looked a danger on the run to the final fence, Alan King’s horse found plenty in front and stayed on strongly to post an impressive victory in a good time, just faster than Racing Post par and the fastest comparative time on the day by a fair way.

This was much more like it from Sego Success. He has always been highly regarded, he was a leading staying novice chaser last season. He beat If In Doubt in his beginners’ chase and he won a good novices’ chase at Warwick last January before being sent off as second favourite for the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham. He was well beaten in his first two runs this season, but those two runs were on undulating tracks – Chepstow and Cheltenham – and on goodish ground. He seemed to be much happier back on soft ground, and it may be that Doncaster’s relatively flat galloping nature suited him well. His two wins over fences before this were at Warwick and Wetherby, both relatively flat left-handed tracks. Or it may simply be that he improved for front-running tactics and for the addition of cheekpieces.

He is a horse in whom to be interested again now. The handicapper has raised him 7lb to a career-high mark of 146, but it is only 3lb higher than his pre-Cheltenham mark last season, and it is a mark off which he should be able to operate. He is only seven and this was just his eighth chase, so he has lots of scope for further progression. He is well suited by soft ground and a staying trip and, now that we know that he can front-run, he will be interesting again now in cheekpieces and ridden aggressively. Alan King mentioned the Classic Chase at Warwick in January as a possible next target, and that makes a lot of sense, given that he is one for one at the track.

12^th December 2015