5:10 – Rose of Aghaboe 5/1
A lightly raced mare, she was a shock winner of a Warwick bumper on her first start for the yard back in November 2019, beating Wynn House (2nd in a listed race and subsequent hurdles winner) and Meep Meep Mag (2nd NTO before winning a Sedgefield bumper)
Having run with credit in a trio of good novice hurdles, she made her handicap debut and in gruelling conditions at Doncaster over 2m3.5f. Having looked outpaced from a relatively early stage, she rallied well to stay on into 2nd, without ever looking like catching the winner who made all to win cosily.
Nick Gifford remarked that they almost didn’t run her that day due to the heavy ground, and recently commented that Rose of Aghaboe would prefer a sounder surface to been seen to best effect, which she gets today.
Having stayed on well LTO, it’s no surprise to see her stepped up in trip to 3m. She also drops down in class having raced in a class 4 against the boys last time, so this class 5 mares only race represents calmer waters.
Nick Gifford has begun the season well; his runners since the restart have form figures of: 310331F21; 3 winners and 3 places from 9 starts.
Significantly, this race is named after Nick Gifford’s late father, Josh Gifford, which adds further incentive to win this race.
Tabitha Worsley, who rode her LTO, retains the ride and takes off a handy 5lbs (she isn’t the biggest so the 5lb off her back is definitely a positive)
overandclear.com 