Chain Of Command

Chain Of Command jumped sluggishly to start with in this two-mile Ffos Las novices’ chase, his second run over fences. His jumping did improve as he warmed up a bit, but he remained out to the right at most of his fences. On the face of it, he was slightly disappointing in getting beaten here given he started quite a short-priced favourite on the back of his winning debut over the larger obstacles at Kempton three weeks earlier. However, given the amount of ground he lost at many of the fences, he did well to finish where he did. In fact, he split rivals between the third last and second last looking dangerous, but he shifted right and got into the bottom of the second last losing valuable ground and momentum which just allowed the winner, Potemkin, to gain a couple of lengths, a distance that Chain Of Command was not able to claw back.

Malcolm Denmark's gelding was very good at Kempton on his previous run, and he should ultimately prove better back on a right-handed track. The Warren Greatrix-trained gelding was a fairly classy novice hurdler and is definitely worth another chance, especially with the distinct possibility that he will be under-rated next time following this run. He did after all make quite stylish headway from the back before the second last to get right into contention here. Chain Of Command has very few miles on the clock for a seven-year-old, he has run just seven times in his life, and it may well be that this run just came slightly too close to his Kempton win. His current handicap mark of 127 probably underestimates his ability quite a bit, and he could easily exploit that now. He has the potential make up into a more-than-useful novice chaser this season.

7th November 2010

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