Your Darling

Your Darling was impressive in winning the two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase at Ascot last Friday. Quickly into a nice prominent position for Kielan Woods just up on the outside of leader Elixir De Nutz, he made one or two little errors early on but, overall, his jumping was very good. He was accurate and straight and always within his comfort zone. He moved up nicely on the run down the side of the track, joined the leader over the fifth last, jumped to the front over the fourth last, and moved easily into a clear lead as they raced around the home turn. He popped the last two fences and ran out a facile winner, eased down close home and winning with much more in hand than the near-four-length winning margin.

It was a really good performance by Ben Pauling’s horse. It was his first run since last April and, while he can go well fresh, this was just his sixth chase, so there is every chance that he will progress from it. The handicapper raised him by 10lb to a mark of 133, but he is progressive enough to take that type of hike in his stride. He obviously goes well right-handed, his two best runs before this were at Kempton and Huntingdon. He has a history of going well fresh, he has a good record after a break, but there is every chance that he can go on from this now as he matures. He obviously handles this good to soft ground well too, but he ran out a good winner of his bumper at Newbury on heavy ground, so he will remain of interest if he does run during the winter, but he will be of particular interest if he is given a break now and brought back to the track a fresh horse. His record after a break of 100 days or more reads 13111.
Ascot, 18^th November 2022