Fellowes anticipates another bold showing from The East at Wolverhampton
Early leader The East looks to build on a strong start as Racing League moves on to Wolverhampton for night two on Thursday, August 1.
The East heads the leaderboard with 163 points after sending out three winners at Great Yarmouth, on what was a dream start for new manager Chris Hughes and his assistant Charlie Fellowes.
The East has 13 runners heading to Wolverhampton, headlined by James Fanshawe’s Listed-winning sprinter Willem Twee in the concluding £75,000 handicap..
Fellowes said: “We were delighted to have three winners last week, and it could have been four but for Moulin Booj cruising to the front and then somehow getting beat – I still have no idea how that happened.
“Our joker ended up being a little bit of a waste. With the field sizes, we were only allowed to use it in two races and our horses did not run as well as we hoped in the race we opted for, but it was a very satisfying night overall.
“We are really pleased with the uptake from our trainers for Wolverhampton. We have been organised and transparent with running plans well in advance of declarations, which I think will be key given our team has 28 trainers. If we remain organised, that will hopefully earn the trust of the trainers and encourage them to keep entering, which should give us a really good shot at winning this.
“We think we have a pretty strong hand in the main race of the night. Willem Twee is a proper horse on the all-weather and his record speaks for itself. Then we had a toss-up between Al Barez and Quinault, and we decided Al Barez had slightly better form. If you discard his latest run on turf at Haydock, he had previously beaten a very solid horse [Billyjoh] at Southwell.”
Ireland sits 10 points behind The East, with the reigning champions hoping for a repeat of last season’s second night at Chepstow, where they picked up the most points to kick-start a drive to the title.
A sizeable Irish-based contingent for Wolverhampton includes Ross O’Sullivan’s Fair Taxes, who is owned by former leading Irish politician Charlie McCreevy. In total, six Irish-based yards are sending over runners.
Team manager Kevin Blake said: “I was happy enough with Great Yarmouth, although if I was being greedy, we could have had a better bounce of the ball in some of the races. That is the nature of the Racing League though – the races are hugely competitive and you won’t always get a picture-perfect run.
“My view coming into the competition was that we were always going to be back-loaded, in that the second half would be better than the first. We have made an unexpectedly good start and another strong performance here should leave us in good shape.
“I am really pleased with the blend of runners we have this week, with the likes of Henry de Bromhead, Pat Murphy and Mick Halford & Tracey Collins all sending over their first Racing League runners.
“The big headline from our team is that Billy Loughnane has decided to ride here. I think there would have been a big expectation on him to have ridden at Goodwood, but we have managed to wrangle him to his beloved Wolverhampton, which he rides so well.
“The race I think we are particularly strong in is the first. Muscika came back to life at York the other day, while Mint Man is actually 5lb well-in on his run at Naas last week and won’t be able to run in this grade of race in a week’s time. That is very strong Irish handicap form and to go up 5lb for finishing second tells you a story.”
Wales & The West (130.5 points) and London & The South (126) made creditable starts and will fancy their chances of closing the gap on the leading duo, with respective squads of 14 and 13 runners.
Wales & The West’s team manager Jamie Osborne said: “I thought last week was adequate. There was a nice spread of points between four teams and nobody pulled away. I did not think we went there with our strongest squad, so I was happy enough to finish the night 30 points behind the leader.
“I think we are looking all right this week with a full team of 14 runners. A couple of them will need a leap of faith, but there is a chance they can do it. We look particularly strong in the staying race with Duke Of Oxford and Oneforthegutter, although Joseph O’Brien’s horse [Intellotto] looks a danger. Noodle Mission and Lough Leane also have nice chances in the 7.15pm. I don’t think we are particularly weak in any race, so I am expecting a good week.”
Further down the standings, Scotland (74.5) also made it into the winner’s enclosure at Great Yarmouth, while The North (59) and Yorkshire (29) are chasing their first wins of the competition.
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