Tight Call

Tight Call ran a big race to finish second to Tedham in the 2m 5f handicap hurdle. Usually a front-runner, Alan Johns settled him just behind a relatively sedate pace here, on this, his first attempt at a distance in excess of 2m 4f under Rules. He was a little keener than ideal early on, and he was a little wider than ideal, but he still travelled well through his race. He moved up nicely on the outside early in the home straight, and he looked a likely winner when he hit the front on the run to the second last flight. He just couldn’t get the better of Tedham, but that rival is a talented and progressive horse who went around the inside throughout, and time may tell that it was a fine run to finish second to Jonjo O’Neill’s horse.

Third behind Dorrells Pierji in a bumper at the Galway Festival last August when he was with Roger McGrath, he has progressed now in four runs for Tim Vaughan, winning a bumper and a maiden hurdle over two and a half miles. He was probably just out-paced by Kajaki over 2m at Wetherby in November, but this intermediate trip is a good trip for him. The handicapper raised him by just 3lb to a mark of 120, and that is fair. He has only just turned five and this was just his third run over hurdles. He has lots of scope for progression.

Wincanton, 5^th January 2019