1:30 – Bath – 32RED HANDICAP (CLASS 2) (3yo+ 0-100) Soft 1m2f46y
The William Haggas trained Jawhar has not looked back since he was fitted with a hood four starts back and was put up in distance to 1 mile 2 furlongs three starts back and both elements of his rapid improvement are in place this afternoon. The 4 year old chestnut gelding is also extremely versatile regarding underfoot conditions and looks good value at 11/4 to overcome his latest 5lb rise in the weights as he steps up to Class 2 for the first time today.
Jawhar’s problem before he was tried in headgear was that he was always too keen in the preliminaries and going down to the post before the race which meant that he was expending to much energy before the race even started. Since he has worn the hood he has been much more relaxed and the talent that he has always had is now showing in his results.
Connections have been very patient with Jawhar as he only ran once as a juvenile and one as a 3 year old. He has taken to his racing much better this year as he has run 7 times, but has been given a break between his runs so should still be relatively fresh for today’s run. His owners will be keen for him to win again this afternoon as he is entered at Tattersalls Autumn Horses-in-Training Sale on 29 October, so it will be interesting to see what his future holds.
Jawhar’s overall record is now quite decent as in nine runs on the flat turf he has won four times and been placed twice. He has won his last three starts, all of which have come over today’s trip of 1 mile 2 furlongs, so he has a 100% winning strike rate over the distance. The going at Bath is Soft and although his last three runs have come on Good and Good to Firm ground, Jahwar has won once and finished 2nd once in three runs in Soft going, so will not mind the conditions today.
With Paul Hanagan who has ridden Jawhar on his last three starts riding at York today, Tadhg O’Shea takes the ride. Tadhg has only ridden Jahwar once which was on his racecourse debut in October 2010. As second jockey to owner Hamdan Al Maktoum Tadhg O’Shea gets plenty of rides in the famous blue and white colours and the owner’s horses have done particularly well at Bath over the past 5 seasons winning 8 times from 28 runs.
As Jahwar is up in the weights and up in class again today, this will be the sternest examination of his rapid progress over this trip to date. He is up against decent horses in the shape of Little Rocky and the Sir Michael Stoute trained Commend. However, the race should be run to suit as Commend will ensure a decent pace from the front giving Jawhar a tow into the race before taking over at the front inside the final furlong.
