HOWLINGMADMURDOCK maintained the fine form of our team with a tidy success on his racecourse debut in the Cazoo Open National Hunt Flat Race at Fontwell on Thursday.
Named after the helicopter pilot in the action adventure TV series The A Team, he runs in the colours of the eight strong Soldiers of Fortune syndicate.
He is a brother to the 133 rated EASY AS THAT who I remember beating one of ours Fanfaron Dino at Ffos Las two years ago, before subsequently hacking up at Musselburgh.
His dam is also a half sister to the top class chaser Time For Rupert. So I was obviously interested when Howlingmadmurdock was entered in a Tatts Ireland store sale in 2020 and we managed to buy him for 16,000 Euros with the help of Gerry Hogan.
He was close to a run in a bumper last season before the ground dried up and has strengthened up since then even though he hasn’t been showing too much at home.
So it was a nice surprise to see him make steady headway to lead three furlongs out before drawing clear to win by five lengths, given a nice ride by Rex Dingle.
Howlingmadmurdock is still a bit of a baby, a nice, athletic type who is entitled to improve a fair bit given that he has never had an away day from home.
If he runs again this season it is likely to be in another bumper towards the end of the season.
