Like Minded

Like Minded travelled with real enthusiasm for most of the way of the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton on Saturday before fading slightly disappointingly. He was settled to the outside, probably seeing a little too much daylight on his first run for 407 days, which resulted in him doing a little too much early on. He jumped with real zest for one who hadn’t seen the track for so long and took closer order coming past the stands first time round. He was fourth or fifth setting off down the back straight, still jumping nimbly. The runners closed up at the end of the back straight and it was obvious that there were many in with a chance, but Like Minded was soon struggling when the pace increased having moved right up to join the front rank. He ended up finishing ninth, beaten 21 lengths.

This was still a promising effort from a horse having just his fifth lifetime start, his third over hurdles and his first for over 13 months, at a time when Paul Nicholls’s horses are not running particularly well. He looked really promising before his break, finishing fourth in the Aintree bumper in 2009 and then finishing second in a Grade 2 hurdle at Sandown to Manyriverstocross, after having won easily up on his debut over timber. He is apparently going chasing now, which is interesting. Any Paul Nicholls horse who goes novice chasing after the turn of the year are interesting in decent events in the latter part of the season.

15th January 2011