PLACES NORTH AND SOUTH RESCUE A QUIETER WEEK
From Huntingdon to Durban, five to twenty six furlongs
2nd May 2009
Two pleasing places in opposite hemispheres and over distances differing by a factor of 5....and Huntingdon's weather was better than Durban's !
Last week's wins had been followed by a couple of disappointing performances but places on Thursday and Friday evenings provided better results.
On a beautiful sunny evening at Huntingdon on Thursday, CORTESIA wearing first time blinkers battled round the 3 mile 2 furlong (5,200m) hurdle circuit to finish 3rd. HINTLESHAM NATIONAL HUNT Members were delighted with the performance after a lot of patience. Faster ground, the blinkers and a great ride from Wayne Hutchinson bore out trainer Richard Phillips' hopes for a win in one of these - perhaps back to 3 miles or less now that she is travelling well.
On a dull evening at Greyville (Durban) last night, the 2yo winning filly KIMIGAIO returned to the racecourse after jarring a knee. Starting favourite on reputation, rating and pedigree, and ridden by Robbie Hill for trainer Vaughan Marshall, KIMIGAIO ran a storming race over the minimum distance of 1,000m (5f) to be caught on the line and finish 2nd, one hundredth of a second behind a dead-heat. This very good run in Yoshiko Allan's colours after a long break will be followed up by an outing over 1200 metres quite soon.