Up For Parol

Up For Parol is the other horse to take out of the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton last Saturday, he ran better than the bare form of his run suggests. Slowly away and held up early on by Gavin Sheehan, and racing towards the outside, he made good progress on the outside going down the back straight, but he was wider than ideal around the home turn, he had to cover a lot of ground as he made progress on the run into the home straight. His run flattened out after that, but he kept on to finish sixth. The winner Cobblers Dream won well, but Up For Parol was only beaten a length for third, and two and a half lengths for second.

The pace held up well in the Lanzarote Hurdle this year, and it was difficult for the hold-up horses to make progress. Up For Parol continues to progress though, he won his maiden hurdle over two miles at Wetherby last March, and he followed up over the same trip at Ffos Las in April. Third in the Grade 2 Persian War Hurdle at Chepstow on his debut this season, he didn’t have a good experience on his chasing debut at Ffos Las in November, he was being ridden when he was hampered by a faller at the third last fence, and he came home without a shoe and with a wound to his pastern. He put that behind him though next time, returned to hurdles, when he kept on well to get the better of the talented Stellar Magic in a good handicap hurdle run over two miles and three furlongs at Haydock in December, the pair of them clear, on his last run before the Lanzarote.

The handicapper raised Jamie Snowden’s horse by 6lb for that win to a mark of 133, and he left him on that mark after Saturday. That mark should be well within range. He usually races prominently, it wasn’t ideal that he missed the break in the Lanzarote, and a return to more forward tactics could see him step forward again. A half-brother to Gavin Cromwell’s talented bumper horse Letsbeclearaboutit, this intermediate trip looks like a good trip for him, ridden forward, although he would be interesting too stepped up to three miles. He is only six and he has raced just six times over hurdles, so there should be more to come.
Kempton, 15^th January 2022