Alive and kicking and Kicking at Southwell (From The Northern Echo)

Alive and kicking and Kicking at Southwell

12:07pm Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Horse Racing News

KICKINGTHELILLY can shed her maiden tag and steal the Southwell plaudits with victory in the Tickets At southwell-racecourse.co.uk Median Auction Maiden Stakes.

The Byron filly is hardly a strapping beast, but she has shown enough improvement on three racecourse outings to warrant plenty of respect.

Her most significant display was last time out at Kempton, when she revelled in a step up to seven furlongs, having previously finished third over Wolverhampton’s six furlongs.

Kickingthelilly valiantly attempted to make all of the running, but was denied by the odds-on favourite Boudoir, who needed to fight all the way to score by just a short head.

Trainer Rae Guest will be most unfortunate if there is a similarly sharp horse in this line-up.

Perhaps crucially, she is also in receipt of healthy chunks of weight from all five of her rivals.

Arkaim must also be worth a look in the Download Blue Square iPhone App Handicap.

Pam Sly’s four-year-old has arguably been the victim of his own consistency, having slowly crept up the weights due to a nice series of performances over a mile.

He is, however, an utterly likeable sort and can again be relied upon to at least give punters a major run for their money.

A ramp in distance should do Beneath the power of good at Wolverhampton.

Trained by Neil Mulholland, who is doing an outstanding job on the National Hunt circuit, this versatile five-year-old turned in a stout performance over an extended nine furlongs here in January, finishing a narrow third.

Little wonder, then, that his trainer brings Beneath back up to a mile and a half for the Sponsor A Race By Calling 01902 390000 Handicap.

Although his win-to-run ratio is poor - his only victory was in a Wolverhampton maiden nearly two years ago - Mulholland must surely fancy his chances of being able to exploit an all-weather rating of 55 over this trip.

Leyte Gulf has shown enough this winter for punters to take an interest in the Enjoy The Punters Package Group Offer Handicap.

Chris Bealby’s stayer is back competing at something like a winnable mark - despite having troubled the judge on his last three starts.

The nine-year-old often leaves it late, but is unquestionably a worthy ally over two miles at Dunstall Park.

It would be folly to underestimate Fortuna Rose in the EBF Mares’ ‘‘National Hunt’’ Novices’ Hurdle Hurdle at Wincanton.