Tag Archive for: Too Soon

Nassalam has weekend return option at Chepstow

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Nassalam has the Welsh Grand National in his sights again this season and could return to the scene of his finest hour with an outing in the Native River Chase at Chepstow on Saturday.

The Gary and Josh Moore-trained chestnut won the Christmas showpiece by a runaway 34 lengths last season when coping better than any other horse with the heavy ground as only five runners finished.

His next port of call was the Cheltenham Gold Cup, where he was pulled up four fences from home, before turning his attention to the Grand National at Aintree in April.

There he finished 18th under Caoilin Quinn, ending the season on a mark of 158 having started out rated 142.

Handicaps are still on the agenda for the first half of the season, however, with Nassalam holding an entry over nearly three miles at the Monmouthshire circuit at the weekend.

Coral Welsh Grand National – Chepstow Racecourse
Caoilin Quinn and Nassalam after their Welsh National victory (David Davies/PA)

“He’s been very well, he’s in good old form but while he had a good season last season, it was a bad season in terms of his handicap mark,” said Josh Moore.

“We’ll see where he’s at when he starts back. He’s in good shape, we’ll start back and see, he’ll only be running if the ground is slow enough for him.

“The plan is the Welsh National, we’d like to get a couple of runs into him and then that’s the short-term target.

“Maybe they’re right about his mark but it was very circumstantial, it was very heavy ground (at Chepstow) and he won by a heavy ground distance, I don’t think many got round and that reflected the conditions that day.

“His rise was high enough so hopefully he can prove to be good enough, we will end up finding out.”

Towards the other end of the distance spectrum the Moore team have a nice prospect in Too Soon, a Too Darn Hot juvenile who won the Betfred Derby ‘Wild Card’ EBF Conditions Stakes when last seen.

The bay colt holds an entry for the Group Three Zetland Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday but is not guaranteed to start.

“He won really well last time, we’re not sure if he’ll run yet as it will depend on a few things,” said Moore.

“He seems in good form since he won at Epsom and it’d be good to run him once more before the season is out.

“With a horse like him there are not too many options now over his trip but he would appreciate the ground at Newmarket if it is slow so he may run – he’s in good shape.”



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Too Soon shines for Moore team in Epsom strike

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Gary and Josh Moore could have unearthed a real star at Epsom after Too Soon shed his maiden status in the Betfred Derby ‘Wild Card’ EBF Conditions Stakes.

The only one of the five-strong field not to have won a race heading into this competitive conditions event, the son of Too Darn Hot relished both the testing conditions and move up to an extended mile to down Ralph Beckett’s well regarded 11-10 favourite Anniversary.

Gary Moore admitted it was a gamble running the 11-2 shot in this race when still a maiden, but was confident he could produce the type of display he unleashed on the Surrey Downs in the hands of Rhys Clutterbuck.

Moore said: “I’m very pleased with him and he did very well. It was a race I thought he should run in, but at the same time it might be stupid going into it as a maiden.

“He handled Goodwood pretty well on debut and he ran well at Ascot when I didn’t think he was at his best. He proved he handled the undulations at Goodwood and he doesn’t mind soft ground so I thought it was a chance worth taking.”

He went on: “He comes from the same family as Walk In The Park and stayed well, so I’m very pleased with him, especially for the owner.”

Too Soon now has a guaranteed ticket to next year’s Betfred Derby, but whether he has the chance to enhance his reputation this term, or is put away for the winter while connections dream, is still to be decided.

Moore added: “I will see how he is and speak to the owners. Josh and Jamie will sort it out whether he goes again or not. I wouldn’t mind him having one more run, but at the same time I wouldn’t mind him finishing for the year as well.

“He’s going to be hard to place handicap wise now, so we might just have to see how good he is. Obviously he likes a bit of give in the ground and that might be important to him.

“He’s had three runs now, so I wouldn’t care if he had the rest of the season off to allow him to grow a bit – he could do with growing a bit.”

It proved a fine afternoon for the Moore family at Epsom with their 11-4 favourite Miller Spirit also romping to victory in Betfred Apprentices’ Derby Handicap under Alec Voikhansky.



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