Marufo

Marufo ran an eye-catching race at Newbury on Wednesday. Although all of seven years old, the son of Presenting had only set foot on a racecourse five times in a career that had spanned a year and a half before last Wednesday, so he has obviously had his problems. The last time we had seen him had been at Aintree last May, when he sprang a 20/1 shocker in a three-mile novices’ handicap hurdle off a mark of 109. That was his first attempt at three miles, and the step up in trip, as well as the good ground, obviously brought about a deal of improvement.

Aat Newbury on Wednesday, he travelled really well for most of the journey. His jumping was more than adequate for one making his debut over fences, even though he seemed to get crowded at a lot of his fences as other horses jumped across him. Just two lengths off the leader and eventual winner, The Sawyer, jumping the first fence in the home straight, he faded over the final three fences as lack of a recent run probably began to take its toll, and he faded to finish sixth, but Stephen Craine was not hard on him, obviously with the future in mind. A big scopey individual, there is a decent staying novices’ chase in him, and he will be seen to even better effect on better ground.

14^th January, 2009