What next for Grey Dawning after Kempton Boxing Day success?
Horse racing analyst Andy Gibson reflects on Boxing Day's Ladbrokes Handicap Hurdle at Kempton, and looks ahead to the future prospects of Dan Skelton's exciting winner.
Either way, he had to find more to renew his momentum once challenged after the final hurdle, but he eventually won with much more in hand than his winning margin might suggest, and his trainer will presumably find a nice handicap prize for him this season.
He was only raised to 129 after this comfortable success, and so the words of his trainer post-race are potentially even more interesting.
Handicaps Or Graded Race Next?
I notice that Grey Dawning has an entry in the Grade Two Leamington Novices' Hurdle at Warwick on Saturday January 14, but this would not prevent his astute trainer from reverting back to handicaps with him, irrespective of where he finishes at Warwick.
In the early declarations, Ginny's Destiny is the highest-rated horse in the race off a mark of 133, and consequently, even if Grey Dawning happened to win that Grade 2 contest with a little bit in hand, he would still very likely be rated below 140 post-race.