Guard Duty
Guard Duty put up a good performance to win the two-and-a-half-mile novices' handicap hurdle at Windsor on Sunday Lined up 10th of the 10 runners by Gavin Sheehan, and a detached last for much of the race, he didn't pass a rival until after they had turned at the top of the track and prepared for the final two flights He made nice ground on the inside from that point, jumped the second last in a share of fifth place, joined the front rank over the last and stayed on strongly to win by four lengths in the end.
Emma Lavelle's horse did well to win as impressively as he did, coming from last in a slowly-run race A keen-going sort, he was settled in last place early on at Lingfield too on his previous run, with Gavin Sheehan riding him for the first time, when his jumping lacked fluency, but he still looked a likely winner at the second last flight, before he ultimately went down by a neck to Godot, the pair of them clear This was a step forward from that, racing off a 4lb higher mark His jumping was better, but there is still room for improvement He is progressing nicely now as he is learning to settle, and he should do even better in a more strongly-run race He has just turned eight, but he has raced just six times over hurdles, and there could be more to come from him.
Windsor, 19th January 2025
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