Weather fine, track Prebble - they've been the conditions for racing at the past two meetings, but top apprentice Matthew Chadwick gets a chance to strike at Happy Valley tonight at better odds. Prebble has had seven wins in the past week and was posted favourite with his terrific book again but, as those who chewed their fingernails through his unbeatable set of rides on Sunday to finally collect will know, short odds in the Jockey Challenge doesn't guarantee an easy path. Prebble was 2.15 bef
Weather fine, track Prebble - they've been the conditions for racing at the past two meetings, but top apprentice Matthew Chadwick gets a chance to strike at Happy Valley tonight at better odds. Prebble has had seven wins in the past week and was posted favourite with his terrific book again but, as those who chewed their fingernails through his unbeatable set of rides on Sunday to finally collect will know, short odds in the Jockey Challenge doesn't guarantee an easy path.
Prebble was 2.15 before getting out to 2.25 in early moves last night on the Challenge, while Olivier Doleuze, Douglas Whyte and Chadwick went up at 7.0 before early shoppers snipped the star apprentice back to 6.0.
And he still looks a good value proposition, despite having only six mounts.
Chadwick is enduring by far his longest run of outs, with 47 rides since his last win on Hannah King Prawn just prior to that fall from Gallant Champion.
But he has been in the minor placings eight times in those 47 runners, and it is fair to say that the quality of his mounts has often recently been below the standard he had been getting.
He opens with the Caspar Fownes-trained Topping Light (race two), a smart winner on debut, before jumping on Perfect Fit (race three), who was well beaten by Fownes' horse at Sha Tin last start, but had an excuse after being checked out of the race at the start.
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