Native Trail: why he's by no means home and hosed in the Craven on Wednesday

There is still plenty of top-class jump racing to come with Fairyhouse, Punchestown and Sandown not far away but most racing fans will be trying to switch to Flat mode now. I’m no different and so the last few days I’ve been watching most of the best races from last Flat season to try and give myself a head start into some of the big races.

Native Trail stood out like a sore thumb on the eye test and he makes his reappearance in the Craven on Wednesday. He is clearly going to be hard to beat, although as a physical specimen he was a long way ahead of the other juveniles last year and it certainly wouldn’t be the biggest surprise if the rest catch him up. Whether they will do that quick enough to beat him in the Guineas? I don’t know.

Another couple of my notebook horses to follow this year are due to take on Native Trail in the Craven and they are Claymore and Zechariah. Claymore didn’t impress everyone with his demeanor when winning on his debut at Newmarket last season but the figures boys loved him and if there is enough juice in the ground he could give Native Trail something to think about, while I wouldn’t be sleeping on Martyn Meade’s Zechariah either.