4:05 Doncaster – Getareason 14/1 E/W
I think you can conceivably pick holes in all of the runners here; some are returning from chasing (a couple of whom are also doing so after a long break) while others line up in poor form. Small Present is the only one who can’t be tarred with one of those brushes, but he steps up in class following his win in a modest Catterick handicap and conditions will be vastly different here.
With that in mind, Getareason looks a very big price. From Mullins to Nicholls to Menzies this season, the latter of those switches may not be viewed as a positive but Rebecca Menzies has done well with Sao this term who came from Nicholls, while its interesting to note that this is Getareason’s third start for the yard; Sao won on his third start for the yard, so perhaps they just need a couple of runs to be ready.
Getareason ran well on two of his three starts over fences for Paul but to my mind, he never fully convinced over fences. With that in mind, the switch back to hurdles seems wise. While the majority of his form has come over intermediate trip, there is plenty of stamina in his pedigree and he was tried over three miles on a couple of occasions in Ireland. Good ground suits and I imagine that a track like Doncaster will play to his strengths.
After all, this is a horse who placed in Grade 1 and Grade 2 company as a novice hurdler when the going was on the quick side.
As mentioned previously, I don’t think this is a particularly strong race and following a couple of spins on the all weather, Getareason looks primed for a big run with conditions in his favour.
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