Hi all,
Hopefully there will be an improvement in the weather this week. After the havoc to the fixture listed caused by Storm Ciara over the last couple of days.
What do we have to look forward to this week? On Thursday Kelso hosts a valuable card and we are likely to see leading RSA fancy Champ use the 2m 7 ½ f novices chase to complete his Cheltenham prep.
Plenty of top-class action on Saturday at Ascot, Haydock & Wincanton. The feature race of Saturday is the Grade 1 Betfair Ascot Chase which should see the return of Ascot specialist and highest rated chaser Cyrname, a race he won last year.
The big betting race of the day is the Unibet Grand National Trial Handicap Chase at Haydock with the likes of Welsh Grand National runner-up; Truckers Lodge, Peter March Chase winner Vintage Clouds & third Geronimo, Ramses De Teillee and improving C&D winner Lord Du Mesnil all having entries.
At Wincanton it’s the Grade 2 Kingwell Hurdle which is the feature race of a seven-race card at the Somerset track.
Oh, and Grand National hero Tiger Roll could make his seasonal comeback over hurdles at Navan on Sunday.
Back to last weeks action and some eyecatchers. I say some, because there are only three this week. It’s usually par for the course at this time in the season. As from now my tracker horses tend to be focused on horses that will be going for the upcoming big spring festivals at Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown.
I shall start this review of last week’s action at Friday’s Kempton meeting.
Friday February 7th
Kempton
We saw two excellent front running performances from On the Slopes & Legal Eyes.
On The Slopes put In a super round of jumping to land the 2m 2f novices handicap chase. As I mentioned after his recent Cheltenham run, the drop back in trip really suited the 6-year-old.
He could now head for the Grand Annual Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. Which is a race that could suit him well.
Legal Eyes was a welcome winner for the Ben Pauling yard. The 7-year-old a winner at Plumpton on his seasonal return hadn’t been seen pulling up at Sandown in December.
This was his first start since a wind-op which seem to have done the trick as he jumped his 10 rivals into the ground. He relished the quicker ground here and although he’s likely to get a big rise in the weights for this success he should remain competitive going forward.
The Close Brothers Handicap Chase at Cheltenham could come under consideration although connections could wait for a valuable 3m handicap chase at Aintree that the trainer won last season.
Previous eyecatcher Kilfilum Cross was no match for the winner but put in a much better effort than his previous two runs to finish second. He’s another who was having his first run since a wind-op. I suspect he will now attempt to go one better in the Kim Muir Handicap Chase, a race he was second in last year.
The final two races on the Kempton card were bumpers which were won by horses that should win more races in the future.
Hoi Polloi, trained by Emma Lavelle, won the first division. The 5-year-old was held up is a slowly run race. He made good headway two furlongs out but had to be switched inside to make his challenge, once in the clear he showed a nice change of gear to win by 2 ½ lengths. He was probably worth more than the final margin of victory suggests. The time was slow, but he’s bred for jumping and will races when going over hurdles.
Flinteur Sacre, trained by Nicky Henderson is bred to be jumps champion being a full brother to Sprinter Sacre. The 5-year-old built on the promise of his recent Newbury racecourse debut. Travelling powerfully through the race he was never off the bit and won hard held by 4 ¾ lengths. There should be plenty more to come from him in the future.
Saturday February 8th
Warwick
Rouge Vif put in an excellent jumping performance to win the Grade 2 Kingmaker Novices Chase. Always in a good position behind the leader he took it up three from home and soon pulled clear of his rivals with favourite Nube Negra unable to catch him. This was a high-class novice chase performance which was run in a good time.
On my figures only Notebook has produced a better performance than Rouge Vif in the 2m novice chase division this season. The 6-year-old deserves to take his chance in the Arkle at Cheltenham after this run and on a sound surface would have a good each way chance.
The Kingmaker hasn’t been the best guide to the Arkle in recent season. Five winners of the race have gone onto run at Cheltenham since 2008, none have won although two have finished runner-up, including Finian’s Rainbow in 2011.
The race has been a better guide in recent seasons for the Grade 1 Maghull Novices’ Chase at Aintree, with Finian’s Rainbow (2011) and Balder Succes (2017) doing the double. The 2017 Kingmaker winner Flying Angel won the 2m 4f Grade 1 Manifesto Novices’ Chase at Aintree, a race last year’s runner up Kalashnikov also went on to win.
Precious Cargo finished a well beaten third, he did make a bad mistake four out. Not match for the first two home but he shaped like he could improve a bit further when stepped up in distance.
Newbury
I won’t add to the words already written on Altior & Native River’s wins in their respective races.
I was taken with the performance of Dynamite Dollars in finishing third to Altior. Returning from a 378-day absence. He looked in need of the run but ran a race full of promise, beaten just 3 ½ lengths.
The 7-year-old jumped well but didn’t have the change of gear to cope with the winner on the run in. If he comes out of the race well, he deserves to take his chance in the Champion Chase. Where he has a better chance than his 33/1 ante post imply.
In the novice hurdle that opened the Newbury card we saw an impressive performance from the Nicky Henderson trained Chantry House. A winner on his hurdle debut at Cheltenham at the December meeting.
Giving weight to all bar one of his 14 rivals, he only had to be pushed out to register a comfortable win. Now three from three under rules he’s now put himself into the picture for either the Supreme or Ballymore Novices Hurdle at Cheltenham. It will be interesting to see which race he goes for. He has plenty of speed, but the trainer thinks he will stay 2m 4f.
Interestingly trainer Nicky Henderson last time out winners, that had placed previously at Cheltenham and are sent off 10/1 & under at the Cheltenham Festival in the past five years have produced 10 winners from 24 runners 42% +17.78 A/E 1.56 16 placed 67%.
The race produced the first of this week’s eyecatchers.
Namib Dancer – Emma Lavelle
Namib Dancer had finished runner-up on his first two starts over hurdles. Returning from a 75-day break he ran with promise once again to finish 6th. He now qualifies for handicaps and that’s where the 6-year-old future lies. He’s only raced on good ground so far and should get further than two miles. I’m sure he can be placed to win a handicap hurdle in the spring, on a sound surface.
Tamaroc Du Mathan – Paul Nicholls.
An eyecatcher from the Betfair Hurdle. From the same yard as winner Pic D’Orhy, Tamaroc Du Mathan ran a real eyecatcher to finish 5th. The 5-year-old had been beaten on heavy at Ascot on his handicap debut just before Christmas. However, he improved for facing much better ground and was only beaten 1 ½ length at the finish.
He will be nudged up a bit in the weights for this but should remain competitive in valuable handicap hurdles once he’s been reassessed.
Mont Des Avaloirs – Paul Nicholls
The 7-year-old was having his fourth start over fences. Pitched into the deep end when 4th of 6 behind Champ in a Grade 2 novices chase before disappointing in a match at Ascot in December.
Plenty keen enough in the early stages on his return, from a 50-day layoff, he tanked through the race like a well handicapped horse. Leading four out he was headed coming to the last and was outstayed by Sussex Ranger after the last.
Both his hurdle wins came over around 2m 1f so Saturday’s 2m 7 ½ f trip probably found him out stamina wise. A mark of 142 over fences looks workable when he’s dropped back in distance to a round 2m 4f/2m 5f.
That’s all for now. I’m putting together my final ante post selections for the Festival which should be with you tomorrow.
Cheers
John