| By early
afternoon on New Year’s day, Jumps Racing enthusiasts should hopefully be over the
previous evenings revelry and be able to switch their focus to the delightful, western
rural town of Terang for the opening event of the calendar year, where an interesting
seven horse field will face the starter in the Bill Roycroft Open Hurdle. On the strength of his hurdling record and a handy effort over the
exact course and distance last start, the Eric Musgrove trained Salad Touch looks to be a
deserved top weight for the race, albeit imposed with only 3kgs. above the minimum..
The 8yo will be embarking on his 15th career hurdle start
and hoping to recapture some of the form he showed last year, which saw him finish no
worse than 5th at his 9 outings over the smaller obstacles. He also displayed the
versatility to adapt to the larger fences in the latter stages of that preparation,
posting a victory and 2 minor placings in 4 attempts.
Salad Touch will again be the beneficiary of having our
number one cross country hoop, Craig Durden to pilot him on Monday, who will be more than
keen to improve on their two previous assignments and boot into 2001 on a winning note.
But whilst a strong case can be made for the no.1
saddlecloth bearer, he is definitely going to face some strong challenges in his quest for
victory.
Former New Zealander, Crenshaw impressed at his hurdle
debut over this course and distance on December 16, finishing just .2 of a length behind
third placegetter, the abovementioned Salad Touch. The natural improvement one would
expect him to derive from that outing should surely see him figure in the main assessment
of a similar class race here.
The experienced Intensive Care was not far behind the two
previous discussed runners in that same event here earlier this month and a return to the
type of form he showed in winning at Hamilton in October would certainly bring him right
into calculations.
Of the other four contenders,both Tijuana Taxi and
Unanswered make their hurdling debut, whilst El Tigre and Andrestad will be in search of
breaking their maiden status at the discipline.
It is sure to be an exciting event, so if you can’t
make it to the track, be certain to catch the full post race report on this site.
And don’t forget .....when people ask you where they
can find the most up to date information on jumps racing......tell them to ........
GO JUMP !!
Don Cooper |
