Wymott

Wymott put up a good performance to win the Grade 2 three-mile novices’ hurdle at Haydock on Saturday. He travelled like the best horse in the race down the back straight, took it up around the home turn still travelling well, and stayed on well over the last two flights, despite idling on the run-in and allowing Wayward Prince get to within about a length. He only got home by a length in the end, and the time of the race wasn’t very good (over 10 seconds slower than the Rendlesham and two and a half seconds slower than the Pertemps Qualifier run over the same course and distance on the day), but Wymott was doing very little after he hit the front, and he was value for a fair bit more than the winning margin.

This was a good step forward now by Donald McCain’s gelding. Winner of a bumper last year, this was just his fourth run over hurdles. While he has never been out of the first two, he was disappointing on his previous run, when he was beaten by The Knoxs in a lower-grade contest at Newcastle. He didn’t settle well that day, however, which was probably his undoing in the end, the winner is a nice horse of Howard Johnson’s and the two of them pulled clear of their field. Wymott settled much better at Haydock, and it enabled him put up a career-best performance. He would be an interesting outsider if he took his chance in the Albert Bartlett Hurdle at Cheltenham, but he may by-pass that. His future lies over fences, he could make up into a high class staying novice chaser next season, but he will also be of interest if he lines up again in a long-distance hurdle race before the end of the season, especially on soft ground.

20th February 2010