Unaccompanied Profile
Unaccompanied is a four-year-old Bay Fily from Ireland that has tackled the difficult challenge of combining a flat and jump career at a very young age. The horse was the foal of Irish pair Danehill Dancer and Legend Has It and is currently under the control of trainer DK Weld.
Unaccompanied has raced four times in flat races producing two wins. Unaccompanied has been entered in two jump races to date and has a perfect win rate when going over hurdles.
DK Weld
DK Weld has nurtured the talent of many race horses during his time as a professional trainer. Unaccompanied is turning out to be one of the best horses from the DK Weld stables for a variety of reasons.
Unaccompanied started as a sprint horse in flat races for DK Weld and finished fifth on debut at Naas in the summer of 2010. DK Weld then led the horse to two back-to-back wins at Galway and Killarney before the horse was tested over longer distances.
Style of Unaccompanied
The style of Unaccompanied has changed a lot since the horse started racing. The reason DK Weld switched the horse to longer races over jumps is because the flat performances often finished before Unaccompanied had a chance to get going.
The style of Unaccompanied is perfect for jumps because the horse never looks flustered regardless of the conditions surrounding a race. A first win over jumps came at Punchestown on the last day of 2010. Unaccompanied made a bad error four jumps out but recovered to win by an amazing nine lengths.
Worries with Unaccompanied
There are one or two worries with Unaccompanied to consider before getting fully behind the horse. Two races over two miles have produced two wins but Unaccompanied is far from perfect over jumps because there is hardly any career history to go on.
There will be other horses that compete against this Bay Fily that have far superior speed and stamina. It will be a severe test for this horse as to whether it can match the pace of a higher quality field.
Another of the major worries with Unaccompanied is that the horse has a bad tendency to make mistakes at crucial times over jumps. It can only be a matter of time before another top quality horse seizes upon a mistake made by Unaccompanied that ends up costing DK Weld another win.
Peter Townend Rides at the Cheltenham Festival 2011
Unaccompanied looks set to be one of the Peter Townend rides at the Cheltenham Festival 2011. This makes sense because Townend is the only jockey to have won on this horse over jumps. He will also understand the subtle positives and negatives to the way that Unaccompanied runs and will be able to compensate for them.
Townend is one of the more experienced jockeys in National Hunt racing and he will be determined to have a good festival. There are not many Peter Townend rides at the Cheltenham Festival 2011 that will be weak and produce poor results.