Equinties - a turning tide

Gm Equinauts

Wasn’t this weekend a good one to be a fan of British jumps racing?

In a time where the Irish have dominated at Cheltenham winning eight of the last nine Prestbury Cups, 2025 might just be proving the year where the tide starts to turn…

It’s way too soon to start singing ‘racings coming home’ out loud just yest, but we imagine there might be a few racing fans subconsciously humming racings own version of England’s football anthem, whilst they sit at their desk staring mindlessly staring at a redundant screen, as dreams of winning huge Cheltenham multiples float effortlessly around their mind.

Let’s dive in.

HEADINE ROUND UP

CHASING THE IRISH

Before we get into this article, we’re not suggesting that the Prestbury Cup is the be all and end all of National Hunt racing, but it’s fair to say it’s been a true barometer of recent standards. The British have had their ass handed to them for a while now; Willie Mullins’ record 10 winners alone would have seen him draw with the British!

This years markets are again, heavily in the Irish’s favour to maintain their authority over jumps racing, but is 1/10 too short now we have some very good horses emerging this side of the Irish Sea?

Of course, the captain’s armband goes to JONBON after what he did in the Clarence House Chase on the weekend. CONSTITUTION HILL may be odds-on for the Champion Hurdle, but JONBON is the definition of consistency at Grade 1 level.

We don’t need to say too much about JONBON as we’ve run out of superlatives to describe him. The best compliment that we can throw JONBON’s way is that he’s the ultimate horse for any owner. He’s a sexy two-miler who didn’t peak too soon despite running in Grade 1s, he has an elite pedigree, and he has matured like the finest of wines.

Gone are the days of hot-head JONBON who could barely make it around a lap of the parade ring; this JONBON eats turf and jumps fences like they aren’t even there.

And yet, despite his nine Grade 1 successes, it’s fair to say he continues to live in the underrated bracket of public opinion. Why? It’s an easy question to answer, it’s because he just keeps winning and with winning comes repetition. Repetition for the unintentionally narrowminded is boring. When watching an athlete dominate any sport you have to force yourself to remember exactly how hard it is to get to the top and then  stay at the top to really appreciate what you’re seeing.

He’s still odds-against for the Champion Chase despite a foot-perfect season to date, and we can almost guarantee that if a carbon copy of JOBNON was trained by Willie Mullins, he would be 4/5. That’s fine, it’s no real negative, if anything it’s better for his supporting punters.

So why is he odds against? Well one reason might be for how the race shapes up.

MATATA won nicely at Windsor yesterday and could be coming here. Plans for IL EST FRANCAIS are still up in the air, but the Champion Chase is firmly on the agenda. If these two head to the Queen Mum alongside JONBON, that could create a ferocious gallop which could ultimately suit more of a stayer like GAELIC WARRIOR, even if he jumps out into the Guinness Village.

Anyway, we love JONBON, but he’s not the only British chaser to talk about as PROTEKTORAT brilliantly won the Fleur De Lys Chase yesterday. He was great. He bucked out at a tremendous pace, such a pace that even DJELO (who can run over two miles) couldn’t lay-up, and he was still able to kick away before the third-last.

We were a little sour watching it, having backed him last time but we still appreciated his performance which places him firmly back in the Ryanair Chase picture which he last year, a race we definitely know he’s intended for, compared to the likes of FACT TO FILE, GAELIC WARRIOR, IL EST FRANCAIS, BANBRIDGE, EL FABIOLO, and ENERGUMENE. He’s fairly solid at this stage and he’s a proper galloper.

We don’t imagine he will be Dan Skelton’s only Cheltenham winner either. With a little bit of cheating here and A NEW LION there, he’s building a brilliant army to go to battle.

There was another notable performance this weekend which suggests the Triumph hurdle will return to Britain for the first time in 5 years and add another W to the Prestbury Park tally…

TRIUMPH FAVOURITE

Racing has a habit of creating a lot of noise around a horse before they’ve even stepped foot on a race course. The racing world is extremely small and Chinese whispers about recent ‘work’ gain momentum propelled by the forward button on whatsapp, which in turn are compounded by the moving markets which they’ve created themselves!

LULAMBA was subject to such hype going into Saturday, his price crashing for not just the present, but his future – the Triumph hurdle. All eyes were on him.

And boy did he justify it all.

On his first start for the yard away from France, he won by a nice three-and-a-half lengths while giving 10lbs away to the €520,000 former 111-rated Flat horse MONDO MAN.

The front two were firmly on the bridle turning for home and they pulled clear of the third, VIYANNI, who was race-fit having won at Market Rasen last month.

On paper, that makes the performance really smart. Yes, there were a lot, and we mean a lot, of pre-written tweets that surfaced immediately after he crossed the line. That would normally make us turn away from a hype horse like this, but he was rather smart.

Henderson said: "I thought we were facing a complete brick wall there when you think we were trying to give 10lb to some very high-class horses.

 "It looked an impossible task and I was prepared to get beat today because of the hype, but we've got to eat humble pie a bit because the hype appeared to be correct. You don't want these horses hyped up before they run because you're just putting pressure on yourself and everybody therefore wants to knock you down.”

Henderson also admitted that PALLADIUM, the €1.4 million purchase, could also be a Triumph Hurdle horse. Add James Owens’ EAST INDIA DOCK into the mix, and you wouldn’t be afraid to start hoisting the British flag for the pending Triumph victory now.

EYE-CATCHERS

LARIO - HAYDOCK 12.45 SATURDAY

Harry Derham has had a tough time of things recently. His gallop was washed away at the end of November which meant he had no runners for a while. That would destroy anyone’s season, but Derham has got his horses back on track and they are running well (well, the ones we didn’t back are anyway). LARIO is a horse that Derham has spoken nicely about in the past, notably when before running him in the novices’ handicap hurdle at Sandown in April. On his first run for over two months, he stayed on through the line and he should be unexposed off 122.

ASTON MARTINI - ASCOT 14.50 SATURDAY

Nicky Henderson believes there is a bit of unfinished business over hurdles for ASTON MARTINI, and based on her run this weekend, he’d be right. ALTOBELLI was a well-handicapped horse on Saturday. It was his second run of the season, so he had race fitness, and he’s run well at Ascot before. So, being beaten by him is no issue. She travelled nicely and looked like the winner after the second-last, but she just found one too good. Hopefully she doesn’t get too much of a lashing in the handicap as she can go well again.

JUBILEE ALPHA - WINDSOR 12.45 SUNDAY

We don’t usually highlight winners as eye-catchers, but JUBILEE ALPHA deserves a good word. We’re convinced Paul Nicholls’ yard is out of form at the moment (as is Ben Pauling’s, just fyi – his horses are running like sh*te!). Just go and watch the runs of HUGOS NEW HORSE, SINNATRA, and REGATTA DE BLANC over the weekend. They all faded quickly having travelled well, but that was different for JUBILEE ALPHA. She won smartly under a penalty and the likes of SIOG GEAL and BLUEY aren’t bad animals. She has a chance in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham if Nicholls’ stable form has turned around by then.

RISK ON

15.40 ALMOSHHER

Taking on an unraced Beckett horse today - we think he’s a genius with fillies but we will oppose with Fellowes’ SEA THE STARS gelding. He was bought cheaply after an injury which looks a value buy now given his debut. The step up will be sure to suit and we think 7/4 is value in a two horse race with experience on his side.

Any further bets will be posted on X @equinties

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