JUMP RACING - Thursday 8th March

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2.10 Carlisle Call Star Sports 0800 521321 Racing Excellence "Hands & Heels" H´cap Hurdle (Conditionals/Amateurs) Cl4 (5yo+ 0-115) - 2m4f - Winner £3,054 KNIGHT VALLIANT @ 14/1 bog (Stan James) Big chance for this 9yo gelding trained by Mrs Barbara Butterworth in this "Hands & Heels" race. Knight Valliant has collected 3 wins, 3 seconds and 4 thirds in 26 starts over hurdles and his last two wins came in February and April 2011 both with Miss Elizabeth Butterworth in the saddle. That last win was at Ayr in a Class 3 Handicap and it was another "Hands & Heels" race (racing off 99). After a couple of disappointing effort Knight Valliant was well backed 3 months ago at Catterick with O'Farrell on board and finished second, 1 3/4L behind the winner Arisea who came strong in the last couple of furlongs to deny Knight Valliant what looked a deserved win 2 out. His mark was upped to 110 and the horse competed in difficult Class 3 Handicaps (0-130 and 0-135) before coming back to a more suitable Class 4 (0-120) Handicap over 2m1f here at Carlisle last time out (17 days ago). That effort was promising again (on heavy ground) not only because the horse finished third (1/2 behind the second) off today's same mark of 107 and again with Lizzy Butterworth in the saddle but also for the steady headway he showed in the last part of the race (won by Donald McCain-trained Nowuhurlin) with a couple of good horses well beaten, among them the odds-on favourite of that race Diamond D'Amour. So the horse is in good form, handles the ground, likes it here at Carlisle, has a perfect relationship with his amateur jockey and has won a "Hands & Heels" race less than one year ago in better company even if off a lower mark. Another big plus is the line with today's favourite Arisea who beat my selection when they met at Catterick 3 months ago but with revised and adjusted marks Arisea has to carry 12lb more that for such a narrow defeat look a lot even if the James Moffat-trained mare is the only C&D winner of these runners and confirmed her progressive form with a good second when last seen over hurdles at Hexham one week after the win over Knight Valliant at Catterick. Arisea raced only on the Polytrack since then with two average efforts in very poor company but will surely be at her best for today's race with her usual partner Joel Belbin back on her saddle. Soudain and Gulf Punch are the other two main dangers in my opinion among the other 14 starters as both are still very lightly raced and have shown good skills in their first outs over hurdles (both winners) but the Steve Gollings-trained 6yo was very disappointing lto in his debut in handicap company and this trip looks a bit too short for his characteristics while the Donald McCain-trained 5yo has gone up 12lb since his last win and lto didn't perform well at all. All in all I'm happy with this huge price and will support the Butterworths' old fighter.

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Re: JUMP RACING - Thursday 8th March 3.15 Carlisle Edinburgh Woollen Mill Novices´ Handicap Chase Cl4 (5yo+ 0-115) - 2m5f - Winner £3,054 RICH LORD @ 4/1 (Skybet) Rich Lord is an 8yo trained by Ferdy Murphy who won both on the flat and over hurdles and is still "chasing" his first win over fences. This will be his 7th attempt over the larger obstacles and Rich Lord collected already two good seconds in his last 4 efforts (PU and UR in the other two). The first second came at Hexham last December when beaten only by the highly progressive Lucinda Russell-trained Bold Sir Brian who completed a hattrick after that win and has gone up to a mark of 145 atm. Behind Rich Lord that day at Hexham we can find a bunch of good horses who progressed after that race: Donald McCain-trained Empress Orchid who won her next start, James Ewart-trained Bishops Heir who second, third and finally won last time out in her next three starts after that race and Kate Walton-trained Stopped Out who was thrice second (lto behind Bold Sir Brian) after that disappointing effort at Hexham (fell). Rich Lord's last effort was another very good second at Market Rasen over 2m2f behind the highly progressive Lucky Landing who has won again last time out and is now rated 132, 32lb higher than when he beat Rich Lord at Market Rasen 18 days ago. Rich Lord started slowly that day but plugged on really well in the latest stages of the race and made a good progress gaining ground even on the easy winner so today's trip is surely more in his favour and with a clear round of jumps he can surely finally add a Chase win on his tally. Ferdy Murphy had a quite season so far but saddled two winners in the last fortnight and usually his yard reach the peak of form around the Festivals. Lucy Alexander will try to add another win to her fanstastic record-breaking season and she is more than worth her 5lb claim and in super form of late (2 wins, 8 seconds and 4 thirds in the last fortnight) and she already rode three winners for Ferdy Murphy this season. The main rivals seem Ballyoliver and Classical Mist. The Venetia Williams-trained 8yo is now 18lb than when scoring at Warwick at the end of 2011 was well beaten last time out (18L behind Only Witness) and is up another 3lb from that race and his jumping errors have been often creating problems. The David O'Meara-trained 8yo is more unexposed as she raced only once over fences and was second (narrowly beaten by the favourite Brixen) when last seen in action over 2m4f here at Carlisle 17 days ago. She raced a bit to keenly last time out and her first mark of 107 for her handicap debut looks not too harsh but still she has a bit to prove and never looked a consistent type over hurdles so at current prices (3/1) it's not for me today.