Lash leads way for stable enjoying best ever season
| Published date | 24 November 2021 |
Back On The Lash's recent win was Keighley's 20th at his local track and he hopes that his stable star can go back to Prestbury Park and add to that number next month.
He says: "He was very green over the fences, giving them plenty of respect. If he learns that he can brush through them and not lose ground in the air then I think we can expect more improvement around the cross country courses. Obviously, the festival will be his ultimate target."
But Keighley is more excited about the potential of his young horses. "Obviously we cannot compete at the sales where they are
asking for 300,000gns for top pointers, so we made a decision to buy yearlings and the first of those could be coming through in the spring.
"It's a long-term approach and one that is not only affordable but gives us a real chance of finding quality horses."
Another key to the great run is jockey Sean Bowen. Keightley says: "He's one of the best out there, so strong and with a great racing brain. He knows when to give them a breather and always produces them at the right time."
Back On The Lash
7 b g Malinas - Giovanna He has always had bags of potential but he is progressing at a serious rate this year with three wins in handicap chases during the summer before topping that in the cross country chase at Cheltenham this month. It was not a major surprise we had taken him there to school a couple of times and he looked a natural. It was a very good performance to come home as he did in front, but watching him jump the fences gave me even more encouragement as he won the race despite jumping them big and bold. As he gains more experience he'll learn not to jump so high and actually jump through them, helping him gain more ground. He has come out of the race well and the plan is to return to Prestbury Park for another cross country chase next month, where hopefully his recent experience will bring about more improvement to offset his rise in the handicap. We would be looking at the festival race in March, which is a level-weights race. After that there are options at the Punchestown festival and we could even consider the Scottish National. Looking even further down the line I could see him develop into a Grand National horse.
Big Nasty 8 b g Black Sam Bellamy - Hello My Lovely He certainly is big - in fact you could describe him as a giant as he stands at 18 hands, and is without doubt the biggest horse I have ever trained. Hopefully he can evolve into a National
horse as he has plenty of ability and is going the right way. This season he won at Southwell over 3m and has run well in defeat since, finishing second both times. The form of his recent second is standing up very well as the third home won the Southern National last week. He'll head to Kelso for the...
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