Sam Twiston-Davies’ William Hill Blog: Torn And Frayed can get season off to Roaring start

William Hill ambassador Sam Twiston-Davies previews his rides on both days of the Chepstow Jumps Season Opener.

One of my five horses to follow, Kate O’Reily, won during the week, having performed really well at Ludlow on Wednesday for James Owen. It was good to finish in front of the Tim Vaughan horse, who had won last time out. The form of the race is a bit questionable, but at least she beat something. She made a few mistakes, but all things you would expect, overall, just a nice starting point.

My brother Willy is on the license now going into this season, which is good. All the horses at home seem to be going really nicely. The routine is the routine, as always, but it’s just nice because it adds a few extra ideas into the mix. Willy has always been a big part of it; it’s just nice now that his name gets to be alongside Dad’s.

Looking ahead to Chepstow this Friday and Saturday, it’s nice that they effectively call this meeting the start of the season. As we know, we’ve been going for a bit, but this meeting will see a lot of winter horses coming back out, which is great.

Friday, Chepstow

We start off with TREAD CAREFULLY (1:22pm) who is a nice horse. He came second in a bumper at Uttoxeter. He’s only a four-year-old but he’s a lovely type of horse who has a lovely frame. However, he runs on Friday he will turn out to be a lovely chaser moving forwards. He has a nice way of going, you’ll obviously have quite some sharp individuals in this contest but he can make his presence felt. It wouldn’t surprise me if over time he ends up going a little bit further, but this is the perfect starting point for him.

MINNIEMUM (2:32pm) is up next and finished off her season when winning at Cheltenham. She won well that day. She will like the ground at Chepstow and similar to a lot of these, it’s a good starting point to the season and she’s certainly one who I wouldn’t be surprised to see improvement in the runs to come.

I then have TORN AND FRAYED (3:12pm) who has done lots of work at home. He will like the track at Chepstow. These veterans’ races will very much suit this lad as the horses he will be competing with are all very similar to him, they’ve been a good bit higher and they all kind of win in turn. I could see this one suiting him very well.

ROARING HOME (5:30pm) started last season off with a win which bodes well as she has proven to go well fresh. She put up a solid last run at Warwick at the start of May. I’m hoping she can put in another good performance and go close on Friday.

Saturday, Chepstow

BALLYCAMUS (2:45pm) is the first on the Saturday, last year he took a massive blow on his first run and it wouldn’t surprise me if he did the same again this season. It’s a nice place for him to start and will need the run, hopefully he’ll run well but he is a rather burly horse so another opening blow wouldn’t shock me.

I then have INTOSOMETHINGGOOD (4:00pm) in the four-year-old hurdle, who has been brilliant all summer, he’s been really progressive. So, I’m hoping with the fitness on his side that he will go well here.

I finish Chepstow off with LIGHTNING FLASH (4:35pm) who has already come back from a break with a win up at Perth. He was going to run in a chase without a penalty, but sadly the lorry had a bit of a problem that day so didn’t get to run. It’s nice that we’ll be back here for what looks like a suitable race and hopefully he goes well again.