Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Lucy can light up Del Mar

William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell previews his runners from both sides of the Atlantic, as Fiery Lucy heads to the Breeders’ Cup and Visionarian takes his chance in the Champion Chase at Down Royal. 

Friday, Del Mar

The big focus for our yard this week is the Breeders’ Cup and we’re over in California with our runner, Fiery Lucy, who will line up in the Juvenile Fillies Turf (11.05pm). The Breeders’ Cup is the world championships of horse racing and being over here, you feel just how big of an event it is. It’s great to be a part of it.

Even qualifying for the race is a great achievement in itself for her. She’s been drawn in 11, which is a bit wide, but we’re confident she’ll be able to overcome that because there’s plenty of pace in the race and she likes to come from off the speed. She’s better off out wide than trapped in on the rail.

I don’t think the break will be overly important because of the pace in the race. I actually wouldn’t like her to jump too smartly and get too far forward. The easy mile around the turn should suit her and the ground here is beautiful, which she’ll love. We’ll be taking our time and hopefully coming home strong.

Lake Victoria is a worthy favourite; she looks incredibly talented and will be very difficult to beat. I think Fiery Lucy looks overpriced, hopefully I’m right about that and we can make a real race of it!

Friday, Down Royal

We also have runners back home over the weekend and we kick off on Friday with two in the two-mile and half-a-furlong handicap chase (2.40pm). Keith Donoghue takes the ride on If You Let Me, but it certainly wasn’t an easy choice. He had a good run last week on the Flat which was encouraging and the conditions should suit again here.

The trip, and going right-handed, will suit Hypotenus, and we’re hoping he’ll be able to put his best foot forward. He was well beaten last time out, where he probably over-jumped and over-travelled. His jumping took him forward all the time meaning he was a bit weak in the finish, so hopefully he’ll settle better and come home a bit stronger this time.

Our other runner on the day is One Night Standard (3.15pm) who goes in the Beginners Chase. There aren’t too many of these races so the one-furlong drop in trip was more about actually finding a suitable race, rather than thinking she needed to drop back.

She ran at Sligo earlier in the month and has come out of that race well, but this looks a much tougher test. We’re hoping she jumps well and gives a good account of herself.

Saturday, Down Royal

We run two on the Saturday as Hascoeur Clermont (2.10pm) starts us off in the three-mile handicap chase. He’s eight pounds higher than his last winning mark and might just be slightly at the wrong end of the handicap, but his run the last day was encouraging. We’re hoping he can build on that effort over the same trip here.

The big race of the day is the Champion Chase and Visionarian (2.40pm) is our sole entry in what is quite a small field for this renewal. With the good ground and the easier finish at Down Royal, the step up to three miles shouldn’t be a problem for him.

On ratings he has plenty to find against a few of them so a place would probably be our realistic aim. Hopefully things fall right for him and in a small enough field he should have a place chance.

We’re hoping for a good run from him, potentially with an eye on the Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Cheltenham later in the month.