Equinties - champion hurdle turmoil

Gm Equinauts

What a mad day for Cheltenham (and ante-post) fans yesterday.

Radio 4’s Today show had Nicky on for comment and it did NOT sound bullish.

There must be tens of thousands of Cheltenham ante-post acca’s in the balance.

Insane news to break two weeks before the big day.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

NO THRILL AT KEMPTON

Well, yesterday was certainly not the day to be Nicky Henderson. Imagine driving to Kempton with, to your knowledge, a perfectly healthy superstar and subsequently driving home with a million questions and no answers. 

The next week will be telling as to whether we will see CONSTITUTION HILL make his way to Gloucestershire in two weeks, though the task is not impossible, it is just quite unlikely.

With results back confirming a lung infection before they even got back to Sevenbarrows and a course of antibiotics started yesterday, the aim for the Freak is to get his Festival campaign back up and running middle of next week.

As for the armchair trainers, ya’ll need to get back in your box.

Ah yes, sorry, we forgot that Racing X knew more about the horse than Henderson himself.

Fine, it’s very frustrating we don’t see the best horses more regularly but, let’s really be honest - Nicky knows what he’s doing.

He even got abuse for bad scope yesterday!? How is that Nicky’s fault!? Horses get knocks, they get colds, they get injured - they’re animals. Nicky Henderson is not to blame in many of the situations Racing X get riled up over.

If anything, Hendo needs more praise. He is proactive with the media (sometimes too proactive), sharing his thoughts almost immediately, no matter if it’s good or bad news, and he tells it how it is. 

Let’s just hope the horse gets back for the Champion Hurdle. After all, Cheltenham is the place for the best National Hunt horses and we all want to see a big race.

THE WEIGHT IS OVER 

Yesterday marked one of the final days of change for the Cheltenham Festival as the handicap weights were released, and no, we are not talking about the weight of the trainers after the buffet on display. 

That’s right, the Irish horses got their official Cheltenham marks yesterday, and the one that sparked a bit of debate was SA MAJESTE as he was given a mark of 140. 

The Willie Mullins-trained six-year-old beat NOBLE YEATS in a 2m4f hurdle race at Limerick lto, so on the bare form he should have been more towards 150 than 140, but the handicapper, Andrew Mealor, had his reasoning behind the decision. 

As for the chasers, the other contentious topic was the handicapping of GOOD TIME JONNY for the Kim Muir as last year’s Pertemps winner has failed to show much over fences so far this season. 

Fair play to the handicapper on this. He has obviously had the handbrake on all season (or maybe he has just been a bit awful) so there’s no way the handicapper could take him down a load of weight just for him to bolt up in March. The full handicap marks are now available on the Racing Post and on other racecards, so take a look to see which Irish horse takes your fancy.

As for us, the 149 rating given to SHARJAH could be interesting if connections decide the Plate is a feasible option. He bolted up on chase debut in August and then ran to an RPR of 150 when punishing CAPTAIN CONBY, a horse that Paul Bryne has just bought. Remember, the old boy finished three lengths behind CONSTITUTION HILL in the Aintree Hurdle over two-and-a-half miles and even finished third to FOUND A FIFTY at Leopardstown on Boxing Day, he could be interesting. 

FERGAL O’BRIEN MEDIA DAY

Gloucestershire-based trainer Fergal O’Brien is not shying away from Gordon Elliott’s BRIGHTERDAYSAHEAD in this year’s Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle as he produced some fighting talk on his media morning. 

The boss of Ravenswell Farm is searching for his first Cheltenham Festival winner this year and has the services of DYSART ENOS and CRAMBO to help him in both the Mares’ Novice and the Stayers Hurdle. He respects the challenge of BRIGHTERDAYSAHEAD, but he believes his mare will be quicker and that her Cheltenham experience is crucial ahead of Thursday’s penultimate race. 

As for CRAMBO, he is the unexposed British horse in this year’s Stayers where Elliott has a strong hand again. He gave O’Brien a second Grade 1 success in the Long Walk and he did well to bounce back from his handicap defeat just before that, so he should come on plenty and should be feared. 

A LOOK AHEAD 

This week’s ante-post view is on Kelso’s £120,000 Morebattle Handicap Hurdle on Saturday, a race that sees Nicky Henderson’s UNDER CONTROL at the head of affairs. 

Nicky Henderson highlighted this race as a possibility immediately after the Betfair Hurdle, so this isn’t a spur of the moment decision and she could win this and attempt to do the Festival bonus in the County Hurdle, another thing highlighted by Henderson. 

She wouldn’t want it too testing and there is a small worry about the current stable form of Seven Barrows. Yesterday’s CONSTITUTION HILL news and recent bad performances would make you wonder how good a health the yard is in. 

As Johnny Dinnen said on this week’s Upping The Ante, there are a lot of exposed northern horses to get through, but one who isn’t that is BRUCIO after her devastating DRF handicap hurdle win. By AUTHORIZED, she won’t mind any soft ground and she is 1/1 in handicap company. She has to shoulder 16lbs more this weekend which is steep.

Last year’s winner, BENSON, is the other horse who could do the Kelso-Cheltenham bonus if he can defy his five-pound higher mark this year compared to his success 12 months ago. 

He beat COLONEL MUSTARD last year and the form of last year’s contest (COLONEL MUSTARD, L’EAU DU SUD, and THEREISNODOUBT) reads favourably. One can imagine that this has been the plan, but did he leave his race behind at Musselburgh two starts ago? 

Dan Skelton is not represented by L’EAU DU SUD this week, but it’s SKYCUTTER that is flying the flag for the Warwickshire-based yard this year. He was with Phillip Kirby and even ran in the 2022 Boodles when ninth to BRAZIL, but has shown plenty of ability since and rocks up here on a workable 121 mark. He was beaten in a match race by BALLYGEARY at Bangor in December when there was 1lb in the favour of SKYCUTTER; this time around, BALLYGEARY receives two pounds from the six-year-old, so that could bring Donald McCain’s runner into it?

At the big prices, the early money has come for Paul Nicholls’ SANS BRUIT as he has been pushed in a bit and apparently Nicholls likes this horse. He needed the last day on his first start for the yard and has had 35 days since to freshen himself up, so he should come on for the outing.

At a mammoth price of 50’s is N’GOLO for Patrick Neville. This ex-Mullins horse has had a long time off the track but his last win, two starts ago, was in a grade 3. At his peak he’s the best horse in this field but you’d have to know something to back him after such a long time off the track.

Verdict: UNDER CONTROL winning would be a welcome boost to morale for the Hendo yard but equally you wouldn’t want to test your hard earned cash on it so we’ll take that on. BLACK HAWK EAGLE for Kerry Lee appears well handicapped and runs off a light weight in this. Both of his last wins were easy suggesting the ceiling hasn’t be reach yet and with the yard on fire (3 wins from last 4 runners) you’d anticipate a good run for your money. We’d be tempted to stick a quid ew on N’GOLO too given his form a few years ago, he could be the dark horse of the race if fit and ready again.

RISK ON

Tougher today than yesterday, you’ll do well to just watch without any risk on.

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