Harmony can get punters Home before Cheltenham begins
RACING at Happy Valley serves up a tasty hors d’oeuvre this morning with a nine-race programme full of exciting and highly competitive handicaps, starting at 10.45am.
With the Cheltenham Festival getting under way during the afternoon, it’s paramount that backers have money to play with by finding a winner before the action starts in the Cotswolds.
One horse that fits the criteria is top-weight HARMONY N HOME, who runs in the first division of the Hereford Handicap (12.15pm) over six furlongs.
The Danny Shum-trained six-year-old, who was a winner from a five-pound higher mark last season, has taken some time to reach peak fitness this term, but showed he still retained all of his ability when a strong finishing fifth to Toronado Phantom over the course and distance last month.
That form reads well, with the winner, runner-up Prance Dragon, and Smart Idea, having already won this season, and Harmony N Home looks like he has been ear-marked for this contest.
It was probably a blessing in disguise when he subsequently ran a fortnight later, having little chance from the outside draw, and on an unfavourable soft surface.
Consequently, he now finds himself dropped down in class – he has won in this company before – and against rivals who are inexperienced or rated up to their best.
The only worrying factor is the form of Vincent Ho in the saddle. The leading local jockey is having a wretched time at present, with his bad run seemingly all stemming from when he got beat on Hong Kong’s pin-up horse Golden Sixty back at the end of January.
Whether his confidence was shot to pieces after that defeat, no one knows, but the 31-year-old, who has won nearly all the big Group 1 prizes in the territory, has struggled to find winners since with only two victories coming from his last 86 rides.
Ho is too good a jockey to be out of the limelight however and has a great opportunity to get back into the winning groove.
With a good draw allowing him a rails-hugging journey in midfield, he should be ready to pounce turning into the straight and then make Harmony N Home’s trademark finishing-kick count in the closing stages.
Another galloper who has been slow to find his best form, but suddenly bounced back to something like his best three weeks ago, is FARIBAULT, who takes his chance in the second division of the Hereford Handicap (1.15pm) over six furlongs.
The gods of fortune have finally smiled on this four-year-old, who after a string of wide or awkward draws, has been allotted an inside number for only the second time this season.
The form-book points to him having the beating of fancied rivals Bingo Bingo and So Awesome, and with the draw in his favour, he can sit closer to the pace, before unleashing his impressive finishing burst down the home straight.
POINTERS
Harmony N Home 12.15pm Happy Valley
Faribault 1.15pm Happy Valley