Paul Mulrennan Column: "he had little luck last time and should go close"

After a couple of days of travelling back and forth to Hamilton - made more than worthwhile by a treble on Friday night which included Jordan Electrics gaining a record-equalling eighth win at the course in the Scottish Stewards' Cup - Saturday brings a home game with five booked rides at Ripon. And I'll 

I start with Watch Blue Point (2.10) for James Tate and Jaber Abdullah. He’s a half-brother to a six-furlong juvenile winner (Royal Zabeel) and, while I don’t know a great deal about him, hopefully he’ll have taken positives on board from last month’s debut over course and distance. 

Freedom Day (3.20) was taken out by his trainer Mark Walford at Hamilton on Thursday. He’s tried a few new things lately, a hood on seasonal reappearance at Pontefract, and is now stepping up to 1m 2f for the first time. We’ll see how things go. 

I link up with Hugo Palmer to partner L’Astronome (3.55) in the feature Ripon Bell-Ringer Handicap. This horse was a talented performer in France for Francis Henri Graffard, winning the Group Two Prix Hocquart at Longchamp.  

He made a solid start to life with Hugo when third to Al Qareem and Bluestocking in the Listed Stand Cup Stakes at Chester last September, and while he hasn’t kicked on since, he’s had a ten-week break since the Ormonde Stakes. 

He drops back into handicap company, off top-weight, over a slightly shorter trip, so I’d be hopeful that he can run a nice race. 

Cavallo Pazzo (4.30) makes his debut for Daragh Bourke having left the care of Joseph O’Brien. This will be his first start since last November and we’ll also be tackling a new trip - dam won at up to 1m2f - so this represents something of a learning curve. 

My best ride of the afternoon is Hurstwood (5.05pm). Peter Niven’s seven-year-old is a three-time course and distance winner who sits just above his last winning mark and has a good draw in stall 13. 

The ground conditions should be perfect, with this ‘Confined’ Handicap (a race for non-winners in 2024) being exactly the right kind of event. He didn’t have a much in-running luck over course and distance last time, so should go close to winning. 

Phil Dennis was dedicated to the job of riding horses. He was one of the fittest lads in the weighing room, completing a London Marathon in an Elite time  this year.  

However, nature has simply taken its course, leaving Phil struggling with his weight. Right from his apprentice days, Phil was always tall, and he’s just kept growing and filling out. I’d challenge anyone who states that people stop growing at 21. It isn’t true!  

We all work incredibly hard to make weight, stay fit, maintain core strength, enjoy a balanced diet, and sustain hydration levels daily, so can fully relate to the challenge. If you haven’t done it yourself, it is impossible to comprehend.  

As I’ve stated previously, I’m a firm advocate for the re-introduction of racecourse saunas. Riders require this avenue to lose a few pounds every now and again. 

Speaking broadly, there is no longer a significant pool of spare rides around. There is more racing than ever, yet the field sizes are getting increasingly smaller. More jockeys are going racing for just one or two rides. 

Times have changed and there is no such a thing as the ‘journeyman jockey,’ scraping a basic livelihood from the sport. We all have commitments, need security, and must make a proper living. 

Moving back onto Phil, he’s a top lad. I’d like to take the opportunity to publicly wish him nothing but the best for his future endeavours, knowing that he’ll be a major success whatever lies in store. 

The Go Racing in Yorkshire Summer Festival begins at Pontefract tonight (Friday) with other fixtures following at Doncaster, Ripon, Redcar, Beverley, Catterick, Thirsk and York over the next nine days. For more details visit @YorkshireRacing 

I’m looking forward to leading-up a runner in the Graham Lee Fund Stable Staff Stakes at Thirsk next Friday (July 26). 

Best of luck to everyone taking part, and sincere thanks to Sky Bet for sponsoring in aid of the Graham Lee Fund (@glee17ijf), and the Injured Jockeys Fund (@IJF_official). 

I didn’t have a standout candidate for this week, so thought I’d take the chance to offer a quick update on Letsbefrank, who finished third at York last Saturday. 

Letsbefrank just half missed the break. He was wearing a big heavy stalls rug and, in a slowly run race, I just ended up being a length or so further back than ideal. He stayed the two-mile trip well, stamina was no problem whatsoever, and I think there will be plenty more races to be won. 

It was a good solid run which identified that staying trips are going to be his thing. There will be lots of opportunities, in the short-term and further down the line, with races like the Cesarewitch and the Northumberland Plate not beyond the realms of possibility if he continues to progress. 

I still think that the penny hasn’t fully dropped for Letsbefrank, with York being only his seventh career start. He’s still a bit babyish.