Broadway Buffalo

20th-Dec-2014

I think that Broadway Buffalo deserves another chance here after being ridden too aggressively last time in first-time blinkers.

David Pipe’s horse was a progressive handicap hurdler last term, progressing again when stepped up to three miles. He finished a creditable eighth in the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham before producing his best run over hurdles when battling on well to win a good three-mile handicap hurdle at Haydock on soft ground in May.

He made an inauspicious start over fences, he was clumsy on his first few runs, but he was better in a handicap for the first time at Cheltenham’s Open meeting. He looked a likely winner turning for home that day, but an untidy jump at the second last didn’t help him in a race that turned into a fairly attritional affair, and he ultimately faded to finish third.

Well backed for the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle on his most recent run, he was ridden positively and he came up well at plenty of his fences, However, he also got in close to a few of them, particularly as the pace was increasing, and that proved costly. Disputing second over the first fence in the home straight, he faded out of it from there to finish fifth, paying for his overly aggressive ride.

Perhaps he has a wind issue, and he does wear a tongue-tie, but if he is ridden conservatively today, then he could be a real threat back at the scene of his best run over hurdles. His mark of 129 is 11lb lower than his current hurdles mark, so he is undoubtedly a well-handicapped horse if he can get it together. The return to Haydock, a flat track where he has run so well in the past, should give him a good chance of getting into a nice rhythm. I thought that he would be a lot shorter than he is, and he is worth chancing at 6/1 or 11/2.

BROADWAY BUFFALO WON (ADV 6/1, SP 5/1)

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