Hot To Trot: Warm winter for Haggas

Flat trainer: William Haggas

The Flat turf season has come to an end today at Doncaster, and most of the bigger yards will be starting to wind down, but William Haggas regularly keeps a decent sized all-weather string for the winter, and also isn’t afraid of running an above-average type at this time of year.

Cavantina, who holds an entry at Chelmsford on Tuesday, could be one for Haggas’ all-weather team, given she won her maiden at Kempton, and also put up her best effort since when narrowly denied back there last month. She has only had four starts on an artificial surface and could yet have more to offer. Critical Time could make her debut at Kempton on Wednesday and may be one of those above-average types. She is bred to be at least useful, and it will be interesting how the market speaks for her if taking her chance. Island of Life could be one of Haggas’ best chances, though, if taking his chance also at Kempton on Wednesday (declared at Newcastle on Friday night). She didn’t shape badly over five furlongs last time (first start since a wind operation), given too much to do and staying on with purpose, and looks well worth another try at six furlongs.

Jumps trainer: Dr Richard Newland

As the graph below demonstrates, Dr Richard Newland is in much better form than is usually the case at this time of year, and is showing no signs of slowing down, either, his runners operating at a run to form percentage of 75% at the time of writing.

Heading into next week, Newland has several interesting entries, but before that, he has some solid chances at Ffos Las and Sandown on Sunday. Asylo is interesting in the first race on his first start for Newland having won his final start for Julia Brooke at Perth in April, despite looking to have been done no favours by the handicapper. Rock Gone, who made a good reappearance at Ascot earlier this month, runs later on the card and should give another good account in what looks a winnable race, while West of The Edge has a fair record when fresh and can go well at Ffos Las. Dashing Perk made a most promising chase debut and will be of interest in taking his chance at Hereford on Tuesday. He’s the type to make up into a better chaser and the type Newland will do well with. Looking further afield, Newland has a couple entries in the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham next Sunday in the shape of Le Patriote and Storm Rising. The former is guaranteed a run, but the progressive Storm Rising will need a few to come out, but will be an interesting contender if lining up.

Under the radar: Henry Daly

Henry Daly is in fine form so far this campaign and his stats suggest that he could have one of his best seasons in a while, as the table below shows. Daly has also proved that he is a profitable trainer to follow blind, returning a level stakes profit of at least £9 over the last three years.

Daly has a few entries at Hereford on Tuesday, perhaps the pick being Pique Rock, but he holds stronger claims later in the week. Back To The Thatch in particular looks one to follow and he should give a good account if taking his chance at Bangor on Wednesday. He failed to complete on his final two starts last season, but shouldn’t be judged too harshly on those efforts, and remains with potential as a chaser. Whatmore should also have a chance later on the card following his encouraging reappearance at Chepstow last month. He will likely find it harder to get an easy lead in a race of this nature but still looks up to winning races from this mark. Finally, Stoney Mountain made the perfect start over hurdles at Aintree a couple of weeks back, and remains open to improvement. He should progress further as his stamina is drawn out and will be a leading player at Ludlow on Thursday.