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Equinties - Cheltenham day 2
BGP Capital
December 13, 2025
Gm Equinauts
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HEADLINE ROUNDUP
FESTIVAL CLUES
On a scale of ‘Gavin Sheehan’s ride on SAINT CALVADOS in the 2021 King George’ to slightly burning his toast in the morning, how angry do we think Paul Nicholls was yesterday?
We think it was somewhere around the ‘Johnny Burke ditching his ride on STAY AWAY FAY in the Nash for MINELLA COCOONER’ area of the scale. We think that joke made sense to you racing fanatics.
Why? Well, as we all know, Nicholls had a few horses taken away from him in the summer for various reasons. They included SINNATRA, KABRAL DU MATHAN, ACT OF INNOCENCE, and yesterday’s impressive Cheltenham novice hurdle winner OLD PARK STAR.
Still, one man’s loss is another man’s gain, and after yesterday’s 12-length romp, Nicky Henderson has some privileged decisions to make. Before yesterday, we get the impression that OLD PARK STAR was considered as the 2m4f novice hurdle type in Seven Barrows, while his owner and stablemate, ACT OF INNOCENCE, was more of the Supreme horse. As such, the latter would head to the Formby next, while OLD PARK STAR could go for something like that Grade 2 2m4f novice hurdle on Cheltenham Trials Day.
However, it seems as if Henderson is starting to change his mind on OLD PARK STAR. He thinks he could be good enough and speedy enough to compete at a high level over two miles. He said: “We’re very lucky that Gordon and Su have Act Of Innocence as well who was very impressive at Newbury a couple of weeks ago.
“I’m certainly thinking he is a two-mile horse and this fella we were thinking would get another half mile, but it didn’t seem necessary today and he really quickened off not a particularly strong gallop, so must have quickened a fair bit.
“We’ll try to split them up and it’s a nice problem to have. Act Of Innocence could go to Aintree for the Formby (Novices’ Hurdle, Boxing Day), but three days later there is an introductory hurdle at Newbury (December 29) for horses that have only run once so we’ll see how it pans out over the Christmas period.
“There’s a two-and-a-half-mile race on Trials Day that could be for Old Star Park, but let’s just see, he’s taken me by surprise by the authority of it all. I hadn’t been making any grand plans at this stage, but we might have to, which is a very nice problem.”
If we were gambling on it, we’d say that OLD PARK STAR will go to Trials Day, because where else does he go for a two-mile race? Hendo wouldn’t want to send him for the Rossington Main at Haydock, and that leaves a Listed race at Exeter, which probably isn’t the one either.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him go to Trials Day and then on to the Turners at the Festival, while ACT OF INNOCENCE stays to the Supreme campaign.
Either way, OLD PARK STAR looked very classy yesterday. It was one of those performances to watch and go “wow”. Classy horses win the Turners, and he didn’t look like he was stopping. Nice hos’.
Elsewhere at Cheltenham, SIXMILEBRIDGE will probably be a Brown Advisory horse, and Fergal O’Brien thinks three miles will be the making of him. He was good yesterday, and his jumping is really quick, but it’s hard not to be quite disappointed by CALIFET EN VOL and ROYAL INFANTRY. This may have exaggerated the performance slightly.
SIXMILEBRIDGE will now be targeted for the Scilly Isles next at Sandown where he won a bumper.
And Dan Skelton’s charge towards the County Hurdle is well on its way. He seems to be having a lot of fun in the media with FORTUNE DE MER, because, well, he’s being very honest about the horse. He will have one run, then he’ll go to the County, and this has been the plan all season.
How much more honest can you get? The handicapper will ultimately have his say on whether FORTUNE DE MER can win the County, but the one thing to note is he doesn’t do a whole pile in front. Harry Skelton will have to be very, very good to time his run perfectly in the County, and that may just put some people off from backing him with confidence.
