Horse Racing Tips: Vanessa Ryle believes Greatrex hurdler could win High Stakes

Vanessa Ryle
26 January 2022
3:00 min read

Vanessa Ryle has some horses, trainers and jockeys to keep an eye on

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Two of Vanessa Ryle's eyecatchers from her last column have already won so don't miss which horses, jockeys and trainers she believes are worth close scrutiny in the coming weeks...

"He is clearly a horse they think plenty of given how he has been campaigned and I will be interested to see where he goes next."

Nuble and Howarth catching the eye

Notching up a sequence of wins at any level is no mean feat and horses managing to do it at the lower levels may sometimes go unnoticed, but a couple have done just that recently.

Marco Botti's Nuble has managed to win four on the bounce, one step ahead of the handicapper.

The trilingual Nuble began her career in South America and then spent some time in France, but the All-Weather in Britain has proven her specialist subject, as she has the required tools to zip around Lingfield.

Nuble's first two wins came under Hollie Doyle but more recently she has been partnered by 7-lb apprentice Christian Howarth who is having an excellent start to the year and currently operating at a 22% strike-rate: he has already ridden as many winners in January as he did in the whole of 2021.

Howarth hasn't come from the most conventional background for a jockey, having played as a professional footballer throughout his teens, and didn't sit on a horse until he was 16.

He has already been used by the likes of Charlie Appleby and Saeed bin Suroor and is now picking up rides for a host of other trainers who are all trying to make use of his 7lb claim, which looks like excellent value.

Winston racking up the wins on Dubai

Another sequence scorer of late on the All-Weather is Roy Bowring's Back From Dubai, who secured a third win in 10 days at Southwell over the mile trip recently.

Bowring's charge had previously never won a race in 14 starts prior to dropping down into classified company for the first time and has not looked back since - his recent win came back in a handicap where he won snugly at the line.

His official rating will be nudged up further but the cosy manner of victory means he won't be too harshly punished and I wouldn't be surprised to see him go in again at the course and distance now he has found his niche, on top of the fact he's in the form of his life.

Jockey Robert Winston has been in the saddle for each leg of Back From Dubai's hat-trick and was the second winner on Southwell's Friday fixture for him as he also won the novice stakes on New Comedy for Charlie Appleby.

Winston resumed his career back in September having retired from the saddle two years previously. Things might have been a little slow to get going with a quiet spell throughout November and into December but the new year has started well and with the help of Appleby, who he also works for in Newmarket, Winston is making the most of the opportunity that comes from Godolphin's main jockeys mostly riding aboard at this time of year.

Craggs' small string beginning to hit form?

Veteran owner and trainer Ray Craggs is not someone you see a lot of on the racecourse but he made an appearance at Southwell recently where he had three runners on the same card. For many trainers this would be an everyday occurrence but, considering that Cragg's wouldn't have more than a handful of horses in training at any one time, it was quite significant.

The County Durham-based trainer hasn't had a winner in a few months but don't let that put you off as last summer his small yard hit a fine run of form when winning with a number of horses in quick succession.

Both Amelia R and Amourie hit the frame at big odds on their recent start, with the latter running a blinder behind a well-fancied rival.

Amourie is one to keep on side when we next see her having only gone up 1lb for the good run, and it's in her family to land a bit of a surprise as she is a half-sister to Amouri Gleam who won at Southwell at odds of 100/1!

Stakes could be High for talented Greatrex hurdler

There was plenty to take away from the Lingfield Million weekend both on the flat and jumps with impressive performances coming in both codes.

However, away from the winners' enclosure, there were a couple of eye-catchers and they included the Warren Greatrex-trained High Stakes who finished second in the staying novices' hurdle.

Greatrex is currently having to withstand a cold snap having not had a winner for over a month but High Stakes ran much the best race of those who went forward in that contest and was overhauled only by Ballygriffincottage who came from well off the pace.

He has a unique profile, having run a good few times in point to points in Ireland, and on just his second hurdle start was thrown in the deep end for the Grade 1 Challow at Newbury. He is clearly a horse they think plenty of given how he has been campaigned and I will be interested to see where he goes next.

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