Captain Blackpearl

Captain Blackpearl was unlucky not to finish closer than he did in the two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase at Kempton on Saturday. Held up early on behind a relentless gallop that My Way set, he lost ground as they raced away from the stands with a circuit to run, but he made nice progress down the back straight, despite making a mistake at the second fence on that part of the course, to move into fifth place as they started to turn for home. He continued his progress in the home straight and over the third last fence, and he was about to move into second place at the second last fence when he got in tight to the obstacle and sprawled on landing. He did well to remain upright, and Jonathan Burke did well to remain on board.

We will never know how it would have panned out had he jumped the fence well, but My Way appeared to tire on the run-in, allowing Awake At Midnight to get to within two lengths of him at the winning line. It looked like Captain Blackpearl would have finished in front of Awake At Midnight, and the fact that he was able to get going again after his mistake at the second last and get up for third place suggests that he might have gone very close.

Beaten in his only point-to-point and zero for three over hurdles, Tom George’s horse was impressive in winning a novices’ handicap chase at Kempton in November on his chasing bow, and he didn’t run badly in his second chase, when he finished second to Evander at Doncaster in December, despite not jumping well. His jumping wasn’t bad here, with the exception of the second last fence, and he can be marked up a fair bit on the bare form of the run. The handicapper left him on his mark of 127 after this performance, and that is a mark off which he will be of interest again. He is only seven, this was just his third run over fences, and he has the potential to go beyond this mark. Two and a half miles is a good trip for him, but he could get further in time, and he goes well on this goodish ground.
Kempton, 27^th February 2021