Elvis Mail

Elvis Mail was a cosy winner of the two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase at Ayr last Saturday. They didn’t go a great pace in the race, as evidenced by a slow overall time, but Elvis Mail always travelled well, handy from early up on the outside, and his jumping was very good. He jumped into the lead at the final fence in the back straight, but rider Bruce Lynn just sat in front until they got over the second last fence. At that stage, he was in front and travelling well as Marown moved up threateningly on the near side. Elvis Mail wasn’t great at the final fence as they sprint developed, he nodded a little on landing and lost momentum, but he picked up well on the run-in when his rider asked him to, going on to win by almost two lengths, but probably with more in hand than that.

To put the weakness of the early pace into context, the other race run on the day over the same course and distance was run in a time that was 2.55secs faster, but Elvis Mail was 3.92secs faster through the final half a mile than the winner of the other handicap chase was, and that represented a finishing speed percentage of 115.48%. Nick Alexander’s horse travelled best of all through his race, and he picked up smartly from the second last fence. It was his first run since last April too, so you would have forgiven him if he had lacked sharpness. He didn’t but there is still every chance that he will come on for this. The handicapper raised him by 5lb to a mark of 142, but that is still 5lb lower than his peak rating as a novice chaser two seasons ago. He spent much of last season jumping hurdles, he has raced just eight times over fences, so he still has scope for progression as a steeplechaser. He goes well on soft ground too as well as on this good to soft ground, and he has the pace for two miles, especially on soft ground.
Ayr, 29^th October 2022