Turn Over Sivola

Turn Over Sivola ran a really nice race on his debut over fences when finishing second to Dodging Bullets at Kempton on Sunday.

Strong in the market against the favourite, he travelled really well, jumped proficiently, and looked the likely winner when he tanked into the lead at the end of the back straight. He was joined by Dodging Bullets over the third last fence however, the first in the home straight, and there was nothing between them two out, with Turn Over Sivola possibly going a little better. However, Alan King's horse made a mistake at that fence and pitched Robert Thornton right up his neck, which handed all the initiative to the Nicholls horse. He again wasn’t as fluent as the winner at the last fence either, he might have just been getting tired, and Dodging Bullets cleared away to win well, looking impressive in the end. However, the finish of the race may over-state Dodging Bullets' superiority, and Turn Over Sivola may be under-rated now as a result.

The ground had probably gone a little against the son of Assessor here given how much rain they had prior to this race (the ground was changed to good to soft straight after they ran this race, so it is safe to assume that it was at least good to soft for this race), he is probably at his best on good ground, and it is understandable that he just got a little tired in the conditions on his first run since May.

His jumping got better as the race went on – it was very good down the back straight – until those two mistakes in the home straight as he tired, it was really good for a debutant. He is rated 25lb lower than the winner over hurdles, but he probably would have given him a real race had he not made that mistake two out. He was sent off as joint-favourite for the Swinton Hurdle off a mark of 130 when we last saw him, and he jumps his fences well enough to think that he could go a fair bit higher over fences than he managed over hurdles. He will be very interesting wherever he runs now, but particularly if he is pitched into a handicap on a mark of 129. A flat two miles on good ground is probably his optimum.

19th October 2013

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