English/Ire
Dascombe praying for dry spell ahead of Hot Fuss’ Newbury bid
Tom Dascombe is hoping that the rain stays away as he gears up to saddle the talented Hot Fuss in the valuable William Hill Hurdle at Newbury on Saturday.
A winner on the flat as a two-year-old, Tom Dascombe's versatile dual-purpose performer has done well over hurdles this season.
The five-year-old son of the speedy Calyx found only Wilful too strong in a competitive handicap hurdle at Ascot in December and after another solid effort at Sandown the following month, he readily reversed the placings with his old rival to pick up a valuable pot at Windsor's Winter Millions meeting.
"He's a good horse. He wasn't bought to do this job but it's what he's ended up doing and he's doing it quite well!" said Dascombe on Sky Sports Racing.
"We were pretty pleased at Windsor. The prize money was excellent; things didn't go the way we wanted them to in his previous race but that's just the way life is sometimes.
"He's one of those horses that needs to have a bit of company and something to race against. He put that Windsor race to bed quite nicely.
"He's always been a decent horse, even from his two-year-old year. We found on the flat that he didn't want good to firm ground, so I said to his wonderful owner Keith Trowbridge and his sons, why don't we send him hurdling.
"There initial reaction was fine, but who's going to train him. Then I said I would! He's progressed but the annoying thing we've found is that during summer flat racing, the ground is too quick, and winter jumps racing the ground can be too slow.
"He wants good to soft or soft ground and I'm not entirely sure we're going to get that at Newbury on Saturday."
Hot Fuss is a general 16/1 chance for Newbury's premier handicap hurdle on Saturday and will carry a 5lb penalty for his Windsor success, with Dascombe hopeful of a big effort from his improving gelding.
"We got a 5lb penalty for winning at Windsor so we are running off the correct mark that we should be in a handicap," he said.
"I personally feel that if we ran off 130 at Windsor that we'd have still won, so I think we're still fairly handicapped.
"As long as the ground doesn't get too heavy as I wouldn't want to run him on heavy ground.
"If it remained soft, I'd run him but there are other races for him like the Morebattle at Kelso."
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