First Street
First Street did well to come from off the pace to finish fourth in the two-and-a-half-mile novices' handicap chase that opened proceedings at Kempton on St Stephen's Day. Held up out the back early on by Nico de Boinville behind a sedate pace, he jumped into fifth place at the final fence in the back straight, but he still had eight or nine lengths to make up on the leaders at that point, which was always going to be difficult into a quickening pace. He kept on admirably over the last three fences though, and closed to four lengths by the time he got to the winning line.
Third behind Constitution Hill and Rubaud in the Christmas Hurdle on this day last season, this was First Street's best run yet over fences. He was a classy hurdler, he finished second to State Man in the County Hurdle in 2022, giving 1lb to the subsequent Champion Hurdler, and he reached a peak rating of 152 over the smaller obstacles. He hasn't yet won over fences, and he was beaten at 1/7 in a match on his chasing debut, but this was encouraging. It was a race that was not run at a strong pace, as evidenced by the winner's finishing speed of just over 108%, and the finish was dominated by the prominent racers. First Street was fastest of all through each of the last two furlongs, and his finishing speed percentage through the final four furlongs was higher than all his rivals'.
The handicapper dropped him by 2lb for this run, which looks generous and which brings him down to a rating of 128, 24lb lower than his peak rating over hurdles and 8lb lower even than his current rating over hurdles. This was just his fourth chase and, although it seems like he has been around for a while, he has only just turned eight. He is potentially very well handicapped now over fences. Also, even though he has won there over hurdles, Kempton may not be his ideal track. He can jump to his left, and his best performances to date have been at Newbury and Cheltenham, so he will be of particular interest when he returns to one of those tracks.
Kempton, 26th December 2024
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