Equinties - headturners

Gm Equinauts

It was nice to see LOSSIEMOUTH looking well after that fall at the DRF.

No one likes to see a horse come down, especially special ones like her and Willie has stated her intended target is still Cheltenham’s Champion Hurdle to ensure it isn’t simply a walkover for CONSTIUTON HILL.

Game on!

Let’s dive in.

HEADINE ROUND UP

BANBOU BACK?

There was plenty of talk about KAROLINE BANBOU before heading to Willie Mullins’ ahead of this season -she is from the family of FRERO BANBOU and her half-sister is a Grade 3 winner, so the family is nice.

She was beaten on stable debut at odds of 1/2 at Naas in December by her stablemate BABY KATE, but got her season back on track yesterday by winning at Fairyhouse.

Who knows what the form of the race is worth, but KAROLINE BANBOU had SWING DAVIS beaten before she fell and she had some fine form in bumpers with FUTURE PROSPECT. PLACE DE LA NATION, the runner-up, is a half-sister to QUAI DE BOURBON as well, so maybe the race is better than the usual Irish maiden hurdle.

She looked good and in all honesty, some of the potential runners in this year’s Grade 2 Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle have taken a few knocks.

THAT’S NICE, ANNO POWER, and LA MARQUISE are just a few to name, and (some little) stones could be thrown at the ante-post favourite, MAUGHREEN, based on her hurdles debut last month, but she’s entitled to come on for that.

There was rumour that KB had a wind issue which was part of the reason behind her not running until yesterday, but she certainly didn’t show any signs of that.

She can be forgiven for her first run over hurdles, and she is unexposed, she has to be a contender for March.

A TURNERS FOR THE AGES?

The Turners Novices’ Hurdle got a few mentions yesterday, and all for differing reasons.
It started with Maddy Playle in the Racing Post and whether the Turners should be scrapped.

Simple answer, no. We haven’t even tried out this new Cheltenham Festival format and people are already thinking of new things to try for the meeting.

Firstly, we probably need to give these new changes a chance before we pass too much judgement, two or three years minimum to see how they’re working out. If they don’t work out, the Jockey Club can hold their hands up and admit they potentially got it wrong.

Anyway, back to the Turners. It’s a great race, and it produces great horses. Speedy two milers can go to the Supreme, good future Gold Cup horses go to the Turners, and slow boats who probably aren’t the greatest go to the Albert Bartlett. That’s how it goes.

More, it caters to different pedigree’s! It’s the reason the Olympics has so many disciplines - the 100m, 200m, 400m and so on - allowing the best physiologies for that trip to shine - creating the Olympic champion head turners. Sorry, that was bad.

In terms of looking after a horse’s journey to the top, the spud race can, sometimes, ruin a horse’s career without trying to, so the trial of the Turners on the testing Prestbury Park New Course is a good compromise.

If they got rid of the Turners Novices’ Hurdle as a Grade 1, horses would simply skip Cheltenham. Willie Mullins is threatening to do so with the lack of a Grade 1 2m4f Novices’ Chase, and it would only get worse with no Turners.

Surely we must realise that we are never going to make the Cheltenham Festival ‘perfect’? We can do things to try and help, but let’s not completely change it from head to toe because we’ve had a few bad years.

We also want to mention this year’s Turners Novices’ Hurdle because Gordon Elliott mentioned the race yesterday.

Having laid down the groundwork for this decision at the start of this year, it seems like he is sticking to his original plan for THE YELLOW CLAY, his decisive Grade 1 Lawlor’s Of Naas Novice Hurdle winner.

The Turners looks like the preferred route at this stage, partly due to the horse’s class, and partly due to the presence of WINGMEN, another Bective Stud-owned novice hurdler who will likely be heading down the Albert Bartlett route.

So, the Turners could have THE NEW LION, FINAL DEMAND, KAWABOOMGA, POTTERS CHARM, SIXMILEBRIDGE, THE YELLOW CLAY, and more. Now that is a nice race.
Having just said that the Albert Bartlett is for the slightly less talented horses, we do actually think the Bartlett could suit THE YELLOW CLAY better.

He looks like a proper grinder, and he is on the edge of being labelled a boat, so the sterner test might suit him better. Furthermore, the Bartlett looks a touch easier this year and he’d probably have more chance in a Bartlett than a Turners.

HANDICAP CHANCE

As with every season, it’s clear to see some horses that are being ‘stopped’ for a Cheltenham Festival handicap.

JOHNNYWHO would have to be one, GENTLEMAN DE MEE could be another, and NOW IS THE HOUR is a short price to win the National Hunt Chase having not yet won over fences yet.

But, there is a horse who has won around Cheltenham which is not going to be changed in the handicap before March and is rather unexposed.

And that horse is HAITI COULEURS, trained by Rebecca Curtis.

The eight-year-old won his last two starts in novice hurdle company before running a good race on seasonal reappearance at Chepstow. He then bolted up at Aintree before winning smartly at Prestbury Park in December.

He looks like a remarkably game and unexposed horse. He could’ve been unbeaten this season if not running into a well-handicapped and off-for-his-life DESTROYTHEEVIDENCE at Chepstow.

Much like TRANSMISSION, who he beat at Cheltenham lto, Rebecca Curtis is protecting his mark for the National Hunt Chase by prepping him over hurdles in the three-mile handicap hurdle at Newbury on Saturday.

Curtis said: "He will probably run. Ideally, I'd like to give him a racecourse gallop before Cheltenham but I'm struggling to find one.

"If he ran over fences again and won, he could go up 7lb or 8lb. The National Hunt Chase is a 0-145 and he could end up nearly top weight, which would make things hard.

“If he won again, we might have to think about the Brown Advisory, but he stays so well and he's tailor-made for the National Hunt Chase.

"He had a nice couple of weeks after his win at Cheltenham; we've slowly built him back and he's in good form. His jumping has really impressed me – he's so quick over fences."

With the Irish handicapper giving his horses a proper lashing before they’ve even boarded the ferry, might it be worth sticking with horses like HAITI COULEURS or TRANSMISSION in these handicaps?

FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP

And finally, it was announced this morning that major owners the Gredley’s have moved their Derby second, AMBIENTE FRIENDLY, from James Fanshawe to James Owen.

James Owen has been the recipient of some special horses from the Gredley family and AMBIENTE FRIENDLY will be another lovely horse in his armoury.

Rated a monstrous 115 on the flat, he’ll be a force in the novice hurdles ranks should he be able to translate his ability over jumps. The fact he’s still entire (for now) might mean the Gredley’s have the prospect of a nice future NH stallion in their ownership.

One to follow with interest.

RISK ON

We think there are a couple of bets today if we play them they will be posted to our X account @equinties.

One we definitely will give another chance to is:

16.15 CASUAL OBSERVER

WE tried him last time and we’re sticking with him today. He’d have stripped fitter for the seasonal debut and Derham’s horses are running a little better now. This horse will love the ground and might still prove well handicapped.