Thoughts on Al Rufaa

One runner today at Southwell, Al Rufaa lines up in the 6.15pm contest under Dylan Hogan.

Al Rufaa won on just his second start for the yard. It was a good step in the right direction for a horse who had not won for three years. He clearly has plenty of ability but has been a free going sort and the team have done a lot of hard work to get him to settle. He is another horse who has benefitted from the switch to Sarsen Farm (read more here). Running back quickly is always a concern, but he did put together a hat trick in a relatively short time frame earlier in his career. The benefit is that he effectively runs from 87 rather than 89 as he will have to do in future. Al Rufaa got an ideal pace set up last time at Wolverhampton. That track is probably easier for a jockey on a free going sort as there are more bends. In his favour he has run well previously over seven furlongs at this track.

A brief note to say that whilst the return of Southwell is very welcome after flooding damage. However, we believe that courses should always be open to the public when there is racing on. Whilst, understandable as a short term fix due to the extensive damage, we hope that the situation is remedied very soon.

Al Rufaa

This looks a slightly deeper contest than the one Al Rufaa won last week. Court of Session looks the big danger with his consistent all weather form at this sort of a level.

Al Rufaa runs for owners Capture The Moment, Carter & Lofthouse. He will be led up by James Pulley.