Wayward Backchat Battles To First Win
Continuing to step up in trip as been the key to the steady progress of No Backchat and when he tackled the furthest distance he had faced, it brought an opportunity to shed his maiden tag. Despite being bred for much shorter distances, No Backchat was stepping up to 1m4f and he saw out every yard, although it was far from straight forward.
Shane Gray travelled up to Musselburgh to partner the 3 year old gelding and he certainly earned his riding fee. The recent change of tactics to front running had suited No Backchat, sparking improvement and once again these were adopted as Shane bounced him out from the gates. The pair took the lead with relative ease and from here they set a fair gallop, hoping to dictate from the front. There was very little to note through the early part of the race with the field travelling along in a long train behind Shane. The pace was even and this look to suit everyone, therefore Shane was free to do as he pleased in front.
Musselburgh is a very sharp track an the bend that leads into the home straight is a tight left hand turn. The nature of the track can catch many a horse out, Kevin has had a few over the years, but nothing was quite as bad as what No Backchat did. He was travelling smoothly in front as they approached the bend over 4 1/2f from home. Shane had yet to do anything with his mount and was caught off guard when the 3 year old hung badly left. Immediately Shane tried to correct him, trying to get him on the right lead to handle the bend that they had begun to take. No Backchat had made a real error and ended up on the other rail, opposite side of the track to the rest of the field. Coming round the bend Shane managed to steer his mount closer to the correct line and with a few reminders he started to move back across the track. By the time the field had taken the home bend and entered the straight, No Backchat was back on terms with 3f left to run. This meant he had plenty of time to challenge but how much energy had he used giving all that ground away. Shane got the gelding back on the bridle and amazingly he still had the lead, although it was only 1/2 length to the second.
Moving to the business end of the race the challenges started to come and Shane had to do all he could to repel them. Under pressure No Backchat kept finding under Shane’s drive and he was hanging onto his advantage. The pair started to look like they could go very close to winning although just alongside the eventual runner up was travelling very smoothly. Moving into the final furlong No Backchat had a battle on his hands from both sides but he was still in front and still going forward. Love Marmalade, a former Ryan inmate, had gone from travelling to under pressure but was still a big danger. The two locked horns, repelling the challenge from the far side to battle it out between the two of them. No Backchat was giving everything and was not to be denied his first victory and bravely battled to the line, sticking his head out to win by the shortest margin of a nose.
No Backchat had been steadily improving and deserved this victory. He showed a very brave attitude despite the slightly wayward route he took. He is an improving 3 year old and with this being only his sixth run there is plenty of improvement left.