Vanessa Ryle: De Foy on the Road to success

The saying goes that second place is the first loser, and many trainers will tell you that it's the worst place to finish.

Not only is it a case of so near and yet so far but it is tied in with so much extra frustration - the fine margins, the what could have been, the wondering what would have made the difference and then the handicapping hit without winning.

All in all, no one likes finishing second and frustration levels must peak when yards go through a spell of 'seconditis'.

De Foy de boy

In just his second full season with a license, Kevin Philippart De Foy is having an excellent year having already topped last year's total of 30 winners at just the halfway point of 2022 alongside a sustained healthy strike-rate.

However, he could be forgiven for being frustrated in the last couple of weeks as 15 runners from the yard have resulted in two winners but no fewer than six silver medals.

Overall this year De Foy has an 18% strike-rate of winners to runners and a 36% strike-rate of runners finishing in the first two.

De Foy looks to have a handful of chances this weekend but one of the more interesting entries will be Faisal Road in the Listed Pat Eddery Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.

The Kodiac colt would have to step up dramatically on his performance in the Chesham when last seen but the point of interest with him is that he will be having his first run for the yard having previously been trained by John and Thady Gosden.

As a speedier two-year-old type on breeding, he looks the sort who would suit the De Foy team and his debut form from Yarmouth is strong enough to warrant keeping an eye out for him in the second half of the season.

Tom in Clover

Tom Clover is another whose yard is running extremely well without winning quite as much as the trainer may have liked. In the last two weeks Clover has sent out two winners from 13 runners but crucially only three of those 13 runners have finished outside of the first three meaning that Clover is batting at an excellent 77% run-to-form rate.

One of those contributing to the statistics is the sprinter Celsius, whose recent win at Newmarket took his tally for this season to two from two and he has an entry back at Ascot this weekend up in grade to a Class 2 Handicap over the course and distance he's won at before.

Despite the fact he is up another 5lbs since winning, he remains well handicapped on some of his old form and there won't be many in the race who are in either as good a form as the six-year-old or who come from a healthier yard.

Hughes has a likely Lad

Another trainer who suffered a frustrating day of seconds recently is Richard Hughes when he made a trip to Ffos Las with three runners and went home with an unlucky two seconds.

Those near misses included Tessy Lad who was well backed to go off 13/8 favourite when stepping up in trip for the first time. He was held up and although he was closing right up to the line he never quite got on terms with the well handclapped winner.

Hughes turns Tessy Lad back out at Newbury on Thursday where he is back in three-year-old only company and is 3lbs well in with the handicapper at a track that should suit his run style.

Happily he also goes over a trip that looked much more to his liking than what had been previously tried on his outings prior to Ffos Las.

Hughes wouldn't have been left too frustrated by his two Welsh seconds as they were quickly followed by a flurry of winners in the last week which means he boasts a healthy strike rate of 25% in the last 14 days and with four of his last seven starters winning, it is safe to say the Hughes yard have hit a bit of a golden spell.