Midnight Jazz

Midnight Jazz did well to finish second to Stephanie Frances under the circumstances in the two-mile mares’ hurdle at Wetherby on Saturday. Strong on the market beforehand, she probably wasn’t well suited by the fairly sedate pace of the race. She travelled well though, she jumped well and she moved up threateningly among horses on the run to the third last flight. She came under pressure at that point, however. She just got out-paced when they quickened, and she couldn’t match Stephanie Frances for pace. The winner did give Midnight Jazz and Miss Crick a chance when she made a mistake at the last, but it never looked like she was going to get caught. Even so, Midnight Jazz stayed on well to take second place by a short head from Miss Crick, a half a length behind the winner.

Ben Case’s mare has had plenty of racing, but she is only six and she probably put up the best performance of her career on her previous run when she won a handicap hurdle at Stratford off a mark of 128. Raised 7lb for that, Saturday’s run off her new mark of 135 was probably a step forward from that. She can continue to progress now, and she should do even better when she gets a stronger pace, or if and when she steps up to two and a half miles. The handicapper raised her by 1lb for Saturday’s run, but she could still be well-handicapped on a mark of 136.

29^th October 2016