Jack’s Revenge

Jack’s Revenge will always be a hostage to the manner in which a race develops in front of him, given his hold-up style of racing, but he was particularly unlucky in the Lincoln at Doncaster last Saturday. He was stopped in his run a couple of times, but for which he was certain to have played a major part.

George Baker’s horse travelled strongly and he did pick up impressively when he was first asked for his effort by Tony Culhane, before he first ran into trouble for the first time. Recovering from that, he got going again well and was making good ground going inside the final furlong when he was hemmed in a pocket as he almost ran into the back of Justonefortheroad with Global Village improving on his outside and keeping him in. No better than ninth with half a furlong to run, he finished strongly and seemed to be full of running at the line. With a clear run he may well have even won.

A mile really does look like his ideal trip, seven furlongs is probably on the sharp side for him, as we saw on his final run last season, also at Doncaster, when he was beaten by Tartiflette. He does have an uncanny knack of finding trouble in running, things just happen a bit quickly for him over the shorter trip. He would be interesting over nine or even 10 furlongs, but a big-field straight mile, in which they go fast from early, is probably optimal. He improved throughout last season, and he is in good hands to carry on progressing this year. The handicapper left him on his mark of 91 for this run, and that is a mark off which he can win one of these big-field handicaps. He is not exposed yet.

30th March 2013