Gunsight Ridge

Gunsight Ridge put it all together in winning the two-mile handicap chase at Sandown on Saturday. Niggled along on the run to the first fence, he nodded a little on landing over the obstacle, which wasn’t ideal, but he was quickly back on an even keel, and travelling well along the inside and in mid-division. His jumping down the back straight was very good, it took him into third place by the time they wheeled around to the Pond Fence. He moved up on the outside of the leader Bun Doran over that obstacle, joined him over the second last, and stayed on well from there to go on and win well in a good time.

It was a good performance by Olly Murphy’s horse, over the minimum trip. His best performances over hurdles had been over two and a half miles, and he had chased home the highly talented and progressive L’Homme Presse over two miles and three furlongs at Exeter on his previous run, but he wasn’t taken out of his comfort zone here by the fast pace that Bun Doran and Moonlighter set over the minimum trip on the heavy ground, and he saw it out well up the hill. It is interesting that his trainer said afterwards that he was worried about the heavy ground. He also mentioned the Grand Annual at Cheltenham and the Red Rum Chase at Aintree as potential targets now, and that makes sense. A strongly-run two miles obviously suits him well, and his good jumping should allow him travel through one of those competitive two-mile handicap chases, although his chance would probably be enhanced if the ground came up on the soft side for either of those two races. The handicapper raised him by 5lb to a mark of 135, and that was fair. He is a lightly-raced young chaser, and he should be able to continue his progression now. He would be interesting stepped back up in trip too.
Sandown, 8^th January 2022