Theatre Dance

On the face of it, Theatre Dance made hard work of beating Mark The Book in the three-mile beginners' chase at Chepstow on Saturday, but you always felt that he was getting on top, and there is no question that he was the best horse in the race on the day. Andy Thornton tried to get up Tom O'Brien's inside on the run to the third last, but O'Brien was having none of it, so Thornton had to switch to the outside. After that, momentum halted, It seemed to take the King's Theatre gelding all his time to get the better of the long-time leader. It always looked like he was getting on top, but the result was not a foregone conclusion as they approached the last. There, however, Theatre Dance put in the faster jump and stayed on strongly to go away and win well in the end.

Theatre Dance is better than this. A useful novice hurdler last season, he finished third to Lodge Lane on his chasing debut over three miles at Exeter in November, then chased home the highly talented Kornati Kid over the same course and distance in December. He may be under-estimated now after this scrambled win - the handicapper hasn't raised him at all for it - and he could be over-looked in a staying chase, ideally on soft ground, next time.

7^th March, 2009

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