Acting Lass
Acting Lass ran better than the bare form of his run in the Sodexo Gold Cup suggests. Reluctant at the start, his early jumping was not fluent at all, and he jumped to his left. Even so, he moved into the race well as they ran down by Swinley Bottom final time, and he travelled well over the sixth last and fifth last fences. He had done a lot of running to get into that position, however, and he weakened from there, ultimately finishing only ninth, some 26 lengths behind the winner Vinndication.
This was Acting Lass' seasonal debut, it was his first run since he was pulled up in the Pat Taaffe Handicap Chase at the Punchestown Festival in May and it was just his second run since February 2018. He was weak in the market before this race also, and it is legitimate to expect that he will come on significantly for the run. He is obviously fragile, but he is also talented, he won his first three chases in the winter of 2017/18, and he was sent off as favourite for the Betdaq Handicap Chase, the old Racing Post Chase, at Kempton in February 2018 when racing off a mark of 149. He raced off a mark of 143 on Saturday, and the handicapper dropped him by another 1lb to a mark of 142, a mark off which there could be a big staying handicap chase in him. He has raced just six times over fences and, while his three chase wins have been at right-handed tracks, he can jump to his left, so he could do even better going left-handed.
Ascot, 2nd November 2019
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