It’s fair to say that Hickton’s career to date has been disappointing. After a promising two-year-old debut where he ran on to finish fourth of eight in a five-furlong race at Redcar, he has not challenged for a place since. Despite trying him over a variety of distances and going, he is generally one of the last two horses to finish. We’ve tried most things to change his fortunes including switching trainers and lopping off his nuts.
I could sense a growing feeling in the syndicate that there might not be any improvement to be had and that if we wanted to grace the winners enclosure, then it may have to be with a different horse.
I drove down to Catterick by myself as I was travelling on to Bradford afterwards to watch the Boro. It was heavy rain all of the way down, which whilst not the best conditions for driving are great for a horse with as little pace as Hickton.
I arrived just in time to see the race before ours and it was clear that the ground was as suitable for him as it was ever going to be.
The plan was that Zak would drop him out at the start and then try and pick horses off in the second half of the race. That’s exactly what happened. He stayed last until the half-way mark and then gradually improved his position. He was still going strongly into the final furlong when others were fading and by the time he reached the finish line he had overhauled all but two of the horses. If there had been another hundred yards he might very well have won.
Everyone was very pleased with third, particularly those of us who had got 66/1 just before the off. It was great that Declan’s faith in him was vindicated, and we now have a better idea how to get the best out of the horse. It’s likely that he’ll stay an extra couple of furlongs, but the key to it is holding him up on ground no better than soft. I’ll be hoping that we’ll get plenty more rain in the next few weeks.
Trail of the Lion King 
Leave a comment