The Romford Pele

Over jumps, The Romford Pele finally gave the impression that he could fulfill his potential over fences when he ran out a good winner of the Summer Cup at Uttoxeter on Sunday, clocking a good time in the process.

Paul Carberry's only ride on the day, he travelled well towards the back of the field behind a strong pace in the early stages of the race. There is still room for improvement in his jumping, he got into the roots of several fences early on in the race, most notably the first two in the home straight first time, but he got better as the race progressed, and he was positively fluent over the last four fences.

Under a typically quiet Carberry, he gradually moved through his field despite the odd error, he moved into sixth place on the run to the fourth last fence, the first in the straight, just about three lengths behind the leader. Switched to the near side, he moved into second place behind Twirling Magnet over the third last fence, joined the leader on landing over the second last and had moved into a two-length lead by the time they reached the final fence. Twirling Magnet stumbled and fell on landing over the last but, while he probably would have finished a clear second, The Romford Pele appeared to have taken his measure before he departed. Carberry rode him out to the line to win by 14 lengths from Carlito Brigante and beat standard time by almost a second and a half, which was a fair effort on ground that was just on the fast side of good.

Rebecca Curtis' horse has threatened to be a really good chaser ever since he finished a close-up second to Balder Succes on his chasing bow at Cheptsow last October, so it was disappointing that he couldn't win in six subsequent runs last season. He got off the mark in emphatic style on his last run before Sunday, however, when, fitted with blinkers for the first time, he easily landed a Class 3 two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase at Worcester off a mark of 128.

Raised 11lb for that, he made light of his new mark of 139 on Sunday. He had his blinkers on again, which could be key to him now, and he saw out the three-and-a-quarter-mile trip well. It will be interesting to see what the handicapper does to him now next week, but hopefully he won't be too harsh and, even if he does raise him a few pounds, the Accordion gelding is progressive enough to take a hike in his stride. He is only seven, he has raced just eight times over fences, and he can progress further, now that he is back on an upward curve in his blinkers.

His trainer spoke about the Galway Plate as an option now, and he would be of interest if he did make the journey across the Irish Sea. However, now that we know that he stays three and a quarter miles, it may be that he will be even more effective over that type of trip. He handles soft ground as well as good ground, and it may be that the Hennessy Gold Cup is a legitimate target for him now.

29th June 2014

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