Three-year-old handicappers to follow: Part 7

Just four horses to finish the handicappers. Next will be the dark horses.

Tum Tum	Half-brother to Travel Brother, third in the 2000 Guineas behind Dawn Approach. Tum Tum made an encouraging debut at Newmarket, staying on for fifth in a race where the fourth, sixth and seventh have won since (First three home haven’t been seen since the race). He was a beaten favourite on second start, but the run was still promising as he was hampered a couple of times in the final two furlongs. The winner of that race is now rated 87. The sixth and seventh have also won novice races since. On his final start as a 2-year-old, he bumped into the useful looking Glencadam Master. He comfortably beat the rest of the field and wasn’t given a hard race when it became clear he didn’t have the pace to match the winner. His siblings have won over a range of distances from 6f to 10f, though they have mainly been by sprinting stallions. This horse should get at least 8-10f and be very competitive off this mark.	80
Twister	Cost 50,000 Euros as a yearling and is by Hurricane Run whose progeny progress well with age. Twister’s brothers have won over 12f and 13f, which suggests a step up in trip is needed as a three-year-old. He was quite a late foal (end of April) and has had three educational runs towards the end of 2017, which indicates he is being trained with next season in mind. His most eye-catching run came on his second start at Wolverhampton where he was only beaten six lengths behind John Gosden’s Wissahickon.  He was only ridden under hands and heels that day and would have finished much closer if given a different ride. On his third start, he was given a different ride, closer up to the pace before fading as expected.  This one looks pretty well in, but will most probably be well found out in the market on handicap debut given shrewd connections.	66
Universal Command	Probably one of the riskier horses of my three-year-olds to follow. I think this horse has been given quite a tough opening handicap mark based on what he has done to date. Roger Charlton’s gelding has been included partly on breeding and when hinting at showing signs of ability on final start as a two-year-old. He is a half-brother to Imperial Aviator who also didn’t win at two. Having said that, Imperial Aviator had shown a higher level of form as a two-year-old than Universal Command. Universal Command was highly tried in two solid novice races at Newbury when he ran green and probably lacked the pace and class to get any closer to the leaders. Expectations were lowered on his final two-year-old start in a muddling race at Kempton, which resulted in a shock 100/1 winner. He looked quite slow but stuck on for fourth. A risky proposition but is still with Roger Charlton so that must be a positive.	74
Victory Chime	A half-sister to the useful Pealer for John Gosden last season, Victory Chime ran her best race on debut at Nottingham, where she travelled strongly throughout before being outpaced in the straight but stayed on nicely. The first three horses haven’t run since but the fourth has won a handicap off 74 and the sixth bolted up next time in a similar event at Nottingham. Victory Chime ran in the latter race but finished nine lengths behind the winner, she never got into the race and again stayed on late in the day. I would be slightly concerned after her worst performance was in her final race to date at Kempton, racing wide throughout. The promise she showed on her first two starts, travelling well before being outpaced indicates that she will be much better once upped in trip, on a galloping track.	72