Buster Thomas

Buster Thomas put up a good performance to finish second to Not A Role Model in the conditional jockeys’ handicap chase.

He made a fairly significant error at the first fence but, after that his jumping was good. The problem was that he sat just behind and towards the outside of Keep Moving, who jumped continually to his left and halted his jumping momentum at a couple of his fences. Even at that, he travelled well into the home straight and moved ominously into second place behind leader Not A Role Model, who was also jumping to his left. He looked like the most likely winner when he travelled well on the run to the second last fence, but he just couldn’t find the turn of foot that would take him past the winner.

It was still a good run by Emma Lavelle’s horse. This was his fourth run back after a break of a year and a half, and it was another step forward on his previous run at Market Rasen. He does go well at Wincanton, but he can go well away from that track too, and he has run well on soft and heavy ground in the past as well as on this good ground. There should be a handicap chase in him off this type of mark in the low to mid-120s.

Wincanton, 7^th November 2020