It might sound like a broken record but the debut of the John Size-trained Jolly Bountiful makes him our headline black booker from Happy Valley on Wednesday night.
Regular readers of the Post racing pages will know we have identified that unraced horses making their debut over 1,000m at the city track face a daunting task to win.
Few win at their first start in race and, although there have been one or two who later failed to live up to this, most of those which do often end up as Class One horses or better.
The last 1,000m Happy Valley debut winner there was Mr Stunning last season and before that it was also a Size-trained horse, Tour De Force in 2012, who wound up as a Group performer.
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So, if you found yourself disappointed after taking the short odds about Jolly Bountiful on Wednesday, don’t be, because you’ll soon recoup those losses.
He was somewhat flattered winning an 800m trial in New Zealand by a big margin as he was really sent to the line by his rider on a very heavy track but it was positive nonetheless.
Jolly Bountiful’s third on Wednesday to two very solid horses in that grade and over that distance, Grace Heart and Ocean Roar, suggested that he can win next time if Size keeps him to that trip, but the impression he gives is that 1,000m is not going to be his distance as he progresses, just a place to start.
Right Honourable (grey and blue silks) finishes third to Best Step (orange) on Wednesday night.
The other black booker comes out of the final race, with the Richard Gibson-trained Right Honourable showing further improvement to bob into third.
A northern hemisphere-bred three-year-old who may be more a horse who gets things together properly next season, Right Honourable has gone a little better each race locally and, with the stable in form, he might snag one before the summer break.
What was to like about this run was that he sat directly behind a fit, in-form horse in Wayfoong Vinnie then ran past him in the final 200m. His form in Ireland, even as a juvenile, was over further than 1,200m and expect him to want further before we see what he’s really about.
