Wales & The West are in pole position to regain the title they lost agonisingly last year and manager Jamie Osborne is determined to avoid a repeat at Southwell on Thursday, live on Sky Sports Racing.
Title challenges will go down to the wire
Twelve months ago my Wales & The West team lost out on the Racing League title in the most agonising of circumstances and Thursday’s finale at Southwell, live on Sky Sports Racing, also looks like going down to the wire.
We went into that closing fixture with a narrow advantage, only to be beaten by Kevin Blake’s Ireland in a nerve-wracking climax and that was a bitter pill to swallow. This year we move into the final round with a 41.5 points advantage over our nearest rivals London & The South with The East in striking distance back in third.
Racing League standings after week five
Watch every contest on Race Week 6 of the Racing League from Southwell live on Sky Sports Racing (Sky 415 | Virgin 519) on Thursday August 29.
We snatched the title with a final night three-timer two years ago and I’m looking for a repeat performance to ensure we don’t suffer the unthinkable indignity of being beaten by Matt Chapman’s mob, or Chris Hughes and his early pace-setters for that matter.
Not only am I determined to guide my dedicated team to glory but I’m also hoping my daughter Saffie (Osborne) can complete a remarkable double by winning the jockeys’ championship for the third year in a row – but that battle is just as tense as the tussle for top team.
Racing League jockey standings going into the final round at Southwell
Saffie, who is locked in a three-way battle with Billy Loughnane and Danny Muscutt, has a favourite’s chance in the first race (5.45) on the Ian Williams-trained DANCING IN PARIS who I’m hoping will give us a good, solid start to the evening in that mile-and-a-half handicap. With Michael Bell’s ultra-consistent COCK AND BULL prominent in the betting, we must have every chance of putting our opponents on the back foot from the get-go.
We have another major chance in the seven-furlong handicap (6.14) with Harry Charlton’s GRAND KARAT, who won over course and distance last month, and Ed Smyth-Osbourne’s NOODLE MISSION – another good chance for Saffie. Both horses are drawn wider than ideal but sometimes these things have a habit of working out for the best.
We may not have such a strong hand in the six-furlong handicap (6.43) but the Ian Williams-trained BE FRANK and Dave Evans’s LIHOU are both capable sprinters on their day and the latter is well handicapped on his best form. In races like this, it’s vital to have the maximum two runners as you always have a chance of putting vital points on the board.
Ireland manager Kevin Blake celebrates winning the 2023 Racing League
That’s definitely the case in the two-mile handicap (7.12) when we run William Muir and Chris Grassick’s SHAGPYLE and my own enigmatic WAHRAAN. William and Chris have freshened Shagpyle up for this and she’s ever so reliable, which is something that can’t be said for my chap.
If he consents to leave the stalls at a similar time to his opposition he has the talent to prove that 84 is a lenient mark. I just wish I could get into Wahraan’s head and have a chat about how important it is that he tries really hard this time. Saffie won on him at Newbury in June so has a better chance than me of getting the best out of him.
She sits out the mile race at 7.41 but Kieran O’Neill and Trevor Whelan can hopefully pull something out of the bag with RADIANT BEAUTY and VULTAR respectively. Jamie Insole, who trains Radiant Beauty with Dr Richard Newland, tells me their Kempton winner is in particularly good form.
Proceedings will undoubtedly be getting tense when the 11-furlong handicap (8.10) gets underway but Kieran’s mount DREAM HARDER will have prospects if he reproduces his Shergar Cup form while Saffie must have every chance of repeating her Racing League success at Chepstow on the in-form Ed Walker’s FANTASY BELIEVER.
Fantasy Believer was given a great ride by Saffie Osborne earlier in the competition
So much could hinge on the big race of the night, the closing five-furlong dash (8.40). It’s fraught with dangers like the much-improved Star Of Lady M for Ireland but we go with two last-time-out winners. Michael Bell’s BRAVE NATION looked like he had something in hand at Doncaster and Brian Meehan’s provided Saffie with a big chance on his Windsor scorer TOCA MADERA.
Fielding the maximum two runners per race is vital to any team’s chances of success in this competition and thanks to the support of my trainers we’ve had more runners than any other team throughout the six rounds. Of course, it’s also about winners and everyone involved has played ball. We have a good system and a healthy team spirit which will hopefully get us over the line at Southwell.
The accolade of being top team once again and putting the likes of Chapman and Blake in their place would be hugely satisfying if we can pull it off, but on a more serious note the £50,000 we would win to share among the stable staff involved would be fantastic.
Saffie, meanwhile, has loved every minute of her involvement in the Racing League but whether she can pull it off for a third time I don’t know. It’s so close it could be 6/4 each of three with young Billy (Loughnane) and Danny (Muscutt) all within 23 points of each other. Like me, she’s out to win – you don’t get anything for finishing second – and we’ll be giving it our best shot on another exciting night on the Tapeta.
Jamie Osborne was speaking to Sky Sports Racing’s Simon Mapletoft.