Equinties - Cheltenham is BACK!

Gm Equinauts

WHAT. A. DAY. FOR. IT.

The sun is shining over Prestbury Park for it’s 7 races on proper jumping ground.

We have had a look at each race with a feature preview of the Grade 2 novices hurdle which looks a belter.

Remember, you don’t have to bet every race (these meetings are generally for the notebooks and trying to work out where Skelton is plotting his drifters) but if you did want an interest, the Tote have a massive 150k guaranteed Placepot - that’s huge.

Link to the Placepot:

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Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

READING BETWEEN THE LINES

Before we start with our Cheltenham content for the day, we want to make you all aware of a decent performance that occurred at Clonmel yesterday.

NARA, at odds of 8/11, won the mares chase over 2m2f by 11 lengths. Having unseated her rider at Limerick in October, this was a nice confidence booster for the well-fancied JP McManus-owned mare, and we think there is a nice pot in her.

We’re not talking about the Mares’ Chase at Cheltenham or anything, but Henry De Bromhead was quick to mention handicaps for her after yesterday’s success. She had a rating of 136, and whether the Irish handicapper changes that, we don’t know.

However, with her form alongside ONLY BY NIGHT (Arkle runner-up), she could definitely be well-handicapped going forward. After all, they sent her off 13/2 to win a Listed handicap chase at the Punchestown Festival last season on her handicap chase debut, so she must have a few pounds up her sleeve. Stick her in the tracker for the next big handicap that she contests.

Speaking of tracker horses, it’s probably worth keeping one eye on SNATCH A GLANCE, who finished third in a two-mile novice hurdle at Ludlow yesterday. He was really well-fancied to win a bumper at the track earlier this month, and he duly obliged. He was given a caring ride yesterday on his first start over hurdles, and he looked to be staying on well with two to go.

He will come on for that, and if he’s positioned closer to the pace next time, he can easily win an early novice hurdle. He is by PANCING GLANCE who is a good NH sire (think STRONG LEADER and DASHEL DRASHER) and was also responsible for Tom Symonds’ eye-catching bumper runner GLANING JACK who blew up in the final stages of his seasonal debut earlier this week. Two to follow.

THE CHELTENHAM LOWDOWN

So, Cheltenham is here!

It may only be the October Meeting, but anytime Prestbury Park is on our TVs, it’s a pleasure. Furthermore, there is naturally more excitement in the air because it’s the first Cheltenham meeting of the season. The dreams are all still alive and the the hope is still high. The first Cheltenham Festival preview is probably only four-ish days away now too.

We say all the “dreams are still alive”, but some Cheltenham ante-post backers were dealt a blow when Gavin Cromwell revealed that BUD FOX, an impressive Punchestown Festival bumper winner, will be kept to bumpers rather than going over hurdles this season. Lol.

Anyway, the news is a bit dry, so here’s a general preview of the day’s action before we properly preview the Grade 2 Sharp Novices’ Hurdle, or as it’s known this year, the Grade 2 Oddschecker Novices’ Hurdle.

So, let’s start with the ground. 10mm+ was predicted to fall yesterday in Gloucestershire, but they missed the worst of Storm Benjamin, and they had just under 5mm, which is roughly the amount they put on to maintain ground day-to-day at the Festival. That is obviously different as the Fez is in the spring and usually warmer, but the temperatures do remain mild. This means that the state of play for today is good to soft, and the odd shower here and there this weekend probably won’t change much.

Most of the horses running this weekend were expecting better ground anyway, so this shouldn’t disadvantage many, and those who would like a bit of cut will probably be fine on good to soft.

The opening 13.15 is a 2M 4F handicap hurdle with EAST INDIA EXPRESS heading the market. He was very good to us last year and finished his season with a win at Prestbury Park when looking very good. Deserved top weight but be wary of THE EXPENSIVE ONE for big Nige. He’s 5yo now and horses really change at 5yo meaning he could be a big improver. More, he’s bred to be a lot better than his mark. Perfect ground and he might not be anywhere near his ceiling yet. They did call him THE EXPENSIVE ONE… they’ll be hoping he’s not expensive to follow!

Race two, the 13.50 is a tasty little “Chasing Excellence” novices’ chase over two miles and all competing have had a run.

Gordon Elliott sends two – KING OF KINGSFIELD and RELIEVED OF DUTIES – and the race conditions are quite interesting. Following the conclusion of the race, the BHA cannot increase the ratings of any of the losing horses, provided the horse has had at least four previous starts over hurdles and chases combined. Watch out for the handbrakes!

So, say KING OF KINGSFIELD and RELIEVED OF DUTIES pull 10 lengths clear of the field, and the former gets up by a nose, the BHA could chuck KING OF KINGSFIELD up 7lbs, but they’d have to leave RELIEVED OF DUTIES alone on 134. It’s like a game show, this.

Anyway, both of those Irish raiders are pretty tidy horses, and obviously one ran in two Grade 1 two-mile hurdle contests last season as a pacemaker for BRIGHTERDAYSAHEHAD.

KING OF KINGSFIELD has to give weight away to his rivals, and COUNTRY MILE (for Dan Skelton) gets in with 11-4 next to his name, which is the bottom weight in the race.
COUNTRY MILE and ALNILAM were 1-2 at Uttoxeter last time, and the market is seemingly taking the stand that the piece of form is pretty strong. Considering they are both rated 137 and 141, that’s a fine stance to take, but those Irish raiders (including the Gavin Cromwell-trained ADDRAGOOLE) will be tough challengers.

We think Dan Skelton’s gelding has the biggest engine but he’ll need to tidy up his jumping -the pace will be a lot faster today and he won’t be able to make any mistakes. If he does jump well, he can reverse the form with Olly Murphy’s and win this race. The biggest question is, is COUNTRY MILE trying!?

Good race. The 14.25 isn’t so will swerve that and head straight to the fifth race as we’ve previewed the fourth, the Grade 2 as a feature below.

The 15.35 is a cracking little two-mile handicap chase over two miles. Are there any horses that go well fresh? Well, CALICO almost exclusively goes well fresh, and he won this race first time out last season off a 4lb higher mark. Has to be of interest given this could be his season target.

JASKO DES DAMES is fave and has to be on the shortlist as he should be race-fit for a yard bang in form. He was fifth in the Grand Annual last year off a 5lb lower mark. They must be going over for a reason, and the prize money is good enough for that to be the reason.

MATATA is the class horse in the race (they were considering the Champion Chase last season (which arguably they should have gone to)), He was second in this last year but off a 13lb lower mark, and he has shown tendencies of being better for his first run of the season. Top weight will be tough but he’s quality.

BROOKIE, despite being rated 19lbs higher than his last winning handicap mark, has won off a 64-day break, a 224-day break, and a 60-day break. Honeyball could be lining him up for next month’s Cheltenham two-mile handicap, and it’s tough to know if he still has anything in hand off 149. That being said, Honeyball thought he was good enough for two Grade 1s last year.

Between JASKO DES DAMES and CALICO in our opinion with preference for the Skelton’s who could have a big day.

The other non-handicap to talk about is the 2m4f novices’ hurdle at 16.10. Skelton has the fave of this race too in DALSTON LAD who, like COUNTRY MILE is by OCOVANGO. DALSTON LAD was good enough to chance in the Champion Bumper last year, but that was probably too much. He is a half to the good chaser MYRETOWN and is already a three-mile PtP winner, so this step up in trip should be fine, and he has every reason to be too good here.

PERCY SHELLEY, DON VIRGINIA, ARCH EMPIRE, SPORTING GLANCE, and DE TEMPS EN TEMPS all have race fitness on him, though, and PERCY SHELLEY has been smashed in the market after his walkover win at Ludlow earlier this month. He was impressive that day:

Keep an eye out for LEADER CRIK for Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies. He’s from a nice family (shock, the owners only have good horses), and he was second in a PtP in May. Going straight over hurdles is rather notable, and because of his age, he gets weight from his elders. He will be better as the season progresses, and for a fence (classic), but Willy was seemingly quite sweet on him at Ludlow yesterday.

Olly Murphy now has the winner of his PtP, DAYLATEDOLLARSHORT, though they only paid £34,000 for him whereas LEADER CRIK cost £160,000 Make the maths make sense.

The last race of the day is the longest race of the day and for amateur jockeys. No view really but keep an eye out for Pauling’s three darts - he won the race in ‘23 and Nige won this race last year with the returning THE NEWEST ONE. Can they book end the cards with the chosen ONE’s? He could do!

GRADE 2 SHARP NOVICES’ HURDLE

Cheltenham is back, and the feature race today is the Grade 2 Sharp Novices’ Hurdle.
There are a few talking horses to mention, and the first is pretty obvious, as UN SENS A LA VIE is running for the Twisters.

In classic Twiston-Davies style, 10 days after his hurdling debut, he’s back on a racetrack. Connections have not hidden their excitement about this horse, and it seems like the Twisters have a really good crop of novice hurdlers this season. They’re already talking about Grade 1s for this lad, and he will improve for the experience he had over obstacles last time.

FORTUNE DE MER was next best in the market, but has drifted out to 9’s. He stinks of a plot for the future. He looked very good last season:

JACK HYDE is a solid horse who is rated 123. Connections seemingly fancied him to win the Persian War, but he probably ran a couple of pounds below his best.
He will probably land a few handicaps this season, especially over fences, but this Grade 2 will be deep waters. Not impossible.

It’s interesting that the on-fire Olly Murphy and Sean Bowen have picked this race for SIR GALAHAD rather than tomorrow’s Masterson Holdings Hurdle. He’s a four-year-old, so that’s looked like the obvious option, but here he is. He’s race-fit, and Cheltenham missed most of the predicted rain, so the ground might still be okay for him. Still a bit unexposed, but he lost his last two races in handicaps off ratings in the mid-120s.

That man, Charlie Byrnes, doesn’t mind a winner at the October meeting (SHOOT FIRST won the Pertemps qualifier two years ago), and RUN FOR MAHLER is in there for the yard. She’s very interesting. They haven’t tried handicaps with her yet, and she was second to CARRIGMOORNASPRUCE on hurdles debut, who beat SEO LINN (Grade 2 bumper winner) at the Punchestown Festival. She then went and won at Thurles, beating QUALIMITA. Why would they come over here and take on the boys? She could well be dangerous and is bred to be! A half to RUN FOR OSCAR.

The rest of the field is full of horses who could rise to this level as they have all won a few maiden/novice hurdles. We’re going to mention three of the big-priced runners.
THE LAST CLOUD looks sharp enough, and he tries very hard. He won cosy last time, but his form is mainly northern, which is hard to work out at Cheltenham. JACKSON LAMB was off the bridle early last time when winning at Kelso. That was over 2m5f, and that will be different to two miles around the Old Course of Cheltenham. He might lack a bit of speed. The way PAUL’S DREAM sauntered up to the second-last hurdle at Fairyhouse las time was eye-catching, and she had to build his momentum back after getting the jump a bit wrong. She definitely has the potential under the bonnet, and she doesn’t lack speed.

Verdict: This race looks between UN SENS A LA VIE and RUN FOR MAHLER with slight preference for the latter who is very fit having been busy this summer.

RISK ON

We’re going to our beloved Newbury for todays punts and fancy Gary Moore to do well today plus a small bet on one we know about.

13.06 YELLOW STAR & 14.51 MILLER SPIRIT

Both should go well in the mud. Ryan Moore’s son Toby Moore is jocked up on both and can bag not only his first win, but his first double. Singles and ew double.

13.41 FOOTSTEPINTHEWOODS

Might be a tough starting point but he’s a nice horse and won’t mind the ground. Small bet ew at 12s’ but one definitely to follow.

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