Caribean Boy

Caribean Boy did well to keep on as well as he did to finish seventh in the Paddy Power Plate. Daryl Jacob had him lined up in a good position, handy and towards the inside, but there were two false starts and he didn’t get away quickly from the standing start, with the result that he was further back in the field than ideal. It was a race in which the prominent racers dominated, they didn’t go a great pace early on, it was difficult for the hold-up horses to make ground, as evidenced by the winner’s finishing speed of 111.72%, and it was messy enough in behind at times.

Moved towards the outside on the run down the hill, Caribean Boy came under a ride, but he didn’t start to make progress towards the leaders until they levelled up for home. He stayed on really strongly from the second last fence. He didn’t get close to the impressive winner The Shunter, but he would have been closer had he had a better run through the race.

Winner of a hurdle race in France in October 2017, Simon Munir & Isaac Souede’s horse has progressed nicely over fences since he has joined Nicky Henderson.  He won a handicap chase over two and a half miles at Haydock on heavy ground last February, but he proved that he could handle better ground when he beat Fiddlerontheroof and Getaway Trump in a Grade 2 contest at Newbury in November. He stays this intermediate trip well, and it may be that he will be even better when he steps up in trip. The handicapper dropped him by 1lb to a mark of 152 and, a seven-year-old who has raced just six times over fences, he has the potential to go beyond that mark.
Cheltenham, 18^th March 2021