Boogie blues
Aug 7th, 2007 by Bert
On the face of it Bouguereau ran pretty disappointingly - seventh out of 18 is nothing special and given the form of his trainer and my general expectation it was a poor result. He did show a lot of promise though, taking the long way round and moving up pretty smoothly before coming to a halt. Michael Hills said that he lost his action about a furlong and a half out, and that at that point he slowed him and tried to get him going again but it was too late - he said he gave him a really good feel and he had a “big future”. Pete had said beforehand that he was still pretty green and he might run in snatches, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise.
On reflection my opinion of Bouguereau is pretty much undimmed - he can still turn out to be a very good horse.
Effingham runs at Pontefract tomorrow, and he seems to have found himself in a pretty hot race. On RP ratings he has 25lb to find with Naomh Geileis and 5lb with Nickel Silver. I expect him to improve an enormous amount for his first run and he should go close.
I claimed another filly yesterday - Lilac Moon from the 6:45 at Carlisle - who will go to Nicky Vaughan. She was fairly cheap (£10k) and is rated a meagre 55. She doesn’t appear to have the best set of front legs and was lame this morning, although it doesn’t look to be serious. We hope she can improve with a little more time and may do a little better over slightly further.
5 Responses to “Boogie blues”
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Lilac Moon had been dropped to 54 after her previous start. It looks like she will have run pretty much to that mark in winning. She does have a history of problems. The Stewards at Thirsk enquired into why she appeared to have been tenderly handled and her unsoundness did come up. The vet gave evidence that, when trotted up, she was a very poor mover.
You may have to be patient; but Nicky is a very patient trainer. She does seem to be running pretty consistently and genuinely; and her half-sister won a couple of races. Is that what made you go for her or have you spotted scope for improvement?
Ray,
there were several things we liked. There were indications that she was improving and would do better over further (10-12f) with a little more time. Her half sister won over 10f and her dam was placed over 10f - her dam’s full sister had black type in Germany over a mile.
Mick thought that she looked genuine enough and ran as if she would benefit from a couple of extra furlongs. We were concerned that she had looked unwilling in the early part of her last race, but we concluded that she was probably feeling the ground on the undulations of the track, and we were more impressed by her attitude at the end. We couldn’t find any serious problems with her legs, but she did get jarred up, perhaps feeling it around the shoulders. Her action looks very much like a firm ground action.
It’s a tricky situation - she looks as if she needs firmish ground to be at her best but her body and legs suffer when running on it. Our early thoughts are to try 10f on G/F on a galloping track such as Haydock, but it might not be easy to find such a race. Nicky will work with her for a while and we should find out more.
Ray Jay - where is the vet’s evidence you mention recorded ? Timeform mention that the stewards enquired after the Thirsk run but don’t give details. Do the BHA post this stuff on the net ?
Below is the official report which is on the BHA’s Racing Admin web-site. I spoke with Ann Duffield who says that Lilac Moon was a lovely yearling who “grew wrong”. She is very upright in front and that you will have a very limited number of chances with her.
“The Stewards enquired into the running and riding of Lilac Moon (GER), ridden by Royston Ffrench and trained by Mrs A. Duffield, which finished sixth, beaten nine-and-a-half lengths. They interviewed the rider and trainer. The rider stated that his instructions had been to get a position and do his best. He added that Lilac Moon (GER) had lost her action turning into the straight. The trainer confirmed these instructions, adding that the filly is a poor mover. Having viewed the video recording of the race and heard evidence from the Veterinary Officer, the Stewards noted these explanations.”
Thanks