How Mondammej went from a 'ticking time bomb' to 'absolutely pitch perfect'

The “ticking time bomb” Mondammej has been far from an easy customer for trainer Antony Brittain and jockey Cam Hardie to deal with, but he showed a glimpse of his huge potential when beating more experienced rivals in the 5f handicap.

The son of French Derby winner Lope De Vega, who never raced for Roger Varian before transferring to Brittain’s North Yorkshire yard towards the end of last year, was making his turf debut having had five often erratic spins on the all-weather.

But everything came right this time as Mondammej, in receipt of 18lb from the 97-rated runner-up Justanotherbottle, won by two and a quarter lengths.

“He won first time out but when we ran him a couple times after he just started getting a bit hot-headed, so we had to try a few different things," said the winning jockey.

"He absolutely ran away with me one day at Newcastle. He’s a bit of a ticking time bomb and was being a handful in the stalls, but today he was absolutely pitch perfect."

On future targets, Hardie added: "You’d like to see him take on some of these big handicaps. I know he had a low weight today but he’s done it easily enough. He has the potential, it’s just keeping a lid on him."

Birthday boy

There are few tracks in Britain that can test the stamina like the closing hill at Pontefract, let alone when that steep three-furlong incline comes at the end of the longest Flat handicap in the country.

But one horse who has clearly mastered the art is Phil Kirby’s “yard favourite” Wemyss Point, who won the 2m5½f Pontefract Marathon for the second time.

The nine-year-old, also the winner in 2018, was once rated 136 over hurdles and has switched between codes of late. He travelled sweetly under Andrew Mullen before pulling three lengths clear of Warranty to provide the trainer with a fitting winner on his 42nd birthday.

Kirby said: “He’s a real yard favourite. He’s the quietest horse we have in the stables and although he’s not as good as he was, he’s still able to be competitive in these staying handicaps.

Phil Kirby: the trainer celebrated a winner on his 42nd birthdayCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"We’ve kept him on the Flat because his mark over hurdles just isn’t really workable anymore and we’ll maybe keep mixing and matching."

There were 125 owners in attendance on a gloriously sunny day at the west Yorkshire track, with Kirby delighted to have Wemyss Point’s Green Oaks partnership among them.

Kirby, who was celebrating his birthday success on the way to Market Rasen's evening jumps fixture, said: "The owners were there and they've told me they’ve had a real lovely day out.

"It's nice [to have a birthday winner] and that’s hopefully the first of a few today. I’ll be late back home but hopefully we’ll have a bit of a celebration later."

Ace Ventura

Jockey Kevin Stott enjoyed a personal best year in 2020 riding 80 winners and the 26-year-old jockey has started in similar vein this time around, with a double on Ventura Express and Ventura Rascal taking his 2021 total to 24.

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