LORD Huntingdon has failed to muster a win in three maiden starts but Andrew Balding will surely be hoping a switch to handicap company in the £10 Free At 32Red.com Handicap at Lingfield can prompt a change in fortunes.
The Lord Of England gelding is not only a home-bred from the Balding family’s Kingsclere Stud but also is named in honour of the trainer’s uncle, so connections will be particularly eager to make this one a winner in due course.
Lord Huntingdon finished well down the field on his racecourse bow at Kempton back in November but showed improved form when claiming fourth on his next outing the following month.
He was still eight lengths off the pace that day but narrowed that to just three lengths on his most recent outing at Lingfield, when claiming a creditable second.
Those three efforts see Lord Huntingdon start life on a mark of 67 here and that looks a perfectly workable starting point in what is not the strongest heat.
Ragner is the pick in the 32Red Casino Maiden Stakes following a fair second place on his racecourse bow here earlier this month.
He was beaten five lengths on that occasion but only really hit his stride when the race was over, keeping on well once any chance of victory had gone.
Ragner clearly has some ability and David Simcock appears to have found an eminently winnable opportunity here.
What A Party is no world-beater but should be good enough in the 32Red Casino Classified Claiming Stakes at Wolverhampton.
Two wins in 17 starts are hardly eyecatching statistics, but at least Gay Kelleway’s charge knows how to win and that is a definite plus.
Nicky Henderson’s Buveur D’Air is among the leading challengers for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham so he really should be winning the Racing UK Novices’ Hurdle at Huntingdon if those kind of aspirations are to be realised.
A dual bumper winner in France, the five-year-old twice finished behind Barters Hill last term, claiming second in a Newbury Listed heat before having to settle for fourth when upped to Grade Two level at Aintree.
Buveur D’Air made a perfect start over hurdles this campaign, seeing off favourite Wait For Me by 11 lengths back at Newbury in November.
The second has franked the form and Henderson seemed very keen on him in the immediate aftermath.
