Perth put on a decent day's racing on Thursday, and is one of the tracks which is genuinely ideal as a summer jumps venue, which in itself is a blessing for a track which would struggle if confined to racing within the timeframe of the "proper" jumps season. It's no surprise that the Tayside venue has proven so popular for Irish raiders in recent years, and several of the races on today's card are marked for export again.
While the man to follow at Perth as a rule is Gordon Elliott, as evidenced once again by a treble on Wednesday, there are other less familar names who are capable of stealing the spotlight, and one of those is Skerries handler Karl Thornton, who has made a decent start to his training career since taking over from his father Sean in late-2011. 15 of the trainer's 33 runners over jumps since that time have made the frame, which is no mean feat, given how competitive low-grade racing can be.
He sends a trio of runners over to compete at Perth today, and by far the most interesting is the ex-Charlie Mann inmate Sum Laff (16:30), who looks worth an interest from what could be a lenient mark. His best effort to date came when winning a beginners' chase over this trip at Ludlow in October, and he was far from disgraced on unsuitably soft ground at Wincanton next time, when a couple of late blunders stopped him finishing on the heels of the front pair. The horse he beat at Ludlow now has a BHA mark of 127, while the Wincanton winner Fairy Rath is rated 132. On balance, a rating of 110 for Sum Laff looks very fair indeed, even if taking a cautious view of his Ludlow win. A recent run over hurdles will have served merely to tighten him up fitness-wise, and this free-goer is now fitted with a hood for the first time.
The field he faces here is far from exceptional for the grade, with the penalised Sergeant Pink opposable after winning a similar contest narrowly yesterday, while Hawaii Klass looked woefully short of pace over C&D last time, and is sure to trade much bigger than his pre-race price, even if bouncing back. The favourite, Be My Deputy, is a likeable sort but he was placed to maximum advantage by Richard Guest earlier in the year, and it won't be easy for Lucinda Russell to squeeze much more out of him. The pair I fear are Civil Unrest, who is more likely to run a stinker, but does have the raw talent to win from his current mark if getting his own way, and the veteran Lord Redsgirth, who was a C&D winner off a 6 lb higher mark last spring, and shaped as on the way back under an overly-aggressive ride here last time. With that pair and Be My Deputy all likely to race to the fore, though, they may compromise each other, and a strong pace will suit the selection ideally. He's too big at around 8/1.
In the following contest at 17:00, Solway Dandy looks sure to appreciate the step up in trip, and can score one for the "home" team, in this case the Wigton yard of Lisa Harrison. The son of Danroad is out of the Harrison's Minster Son mare Solway Rose who stayed well in excess of 3 miles herself, and Solway Dandy's form at the minimum trip is as good as anything in today's field can muster. He fared best of those to race off the pace when seven lengths second of 14 to Momkinzain in a novice handicap here in May, and the extra yardage will bring about further progress if he arrives in the same heart. On the evidence of that last run, he should be a clear favourite, and is worth backing at morning odds of around 4/1, which look very much on the generous side.
Recommendations:
Both at Perth
Back Sum Laff @ [9.2] in the 16:30 (NAP)
Back Solway Dandy @ [5.0] in the 17:00 (NB)
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