Equinties - Dewhurst day

Gm Equinauts

You have to feel sorry for Chepstow. Akin to a struggling celeb turning on the Christmas tree lights in a village so far away it probably cost them more in fuel than appearance fee, Chepstow signals the start of Christmas, or in our case, Cheltenham, the ceremonial switching into jumps mode. It will 100% have it’s own roar soon. The Chepstow roar… just after all the previews! Lol.

Anyway, we’re rambling. But look, Chepstow is important to both Chepstow and punters.

But their card has been raped and pillaged by non-runners owed to the the quick ground.

Who said global warming isn’t a thing, hey!

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

BULLISH QUOTES

This weekend is where the jumps and the Flat meet, so so forgive us if we miss things, but we’re going to highlight a couple of performances from each code yesterday which impressed us.

We’ll start with yesterday’s Group 1 Fillies’ Mile, because Aidan O’Brien labelled PRECISE as “different gear” compared to MINDING, his seven-time Group 1 winner.

Sorry, Aidan, but wtf.

PRECISE was the banker yesterday and she simply blew the field apart. They were strung out like washing, and she was the one who caused this to happen. There was never a moment's worry with her; she handled the Newmarket dip just so well, and she was quickened through the line, not stopping. She could have run to Bury St Edmunds.

But, to be put on the pedestal ahead of MINDING as Aidan has, after just five runs as a juvenile is a big statement. So, why has he said this? It’s not like she has a set of balls and he wants to market her spunk. He said: "Precise looks serious and a special filly. Everything she has done from day one has been so easy. We weren't sure how good she was but she looks a serious filly, make no mistake. That was even more impressive than Minding. Don't get me wrong – Minding was a top filly but this filly is different gear.

"I think she’s a Classic filly. Christophe was super confident on her, she cantered at all stages in the race. I’d say there’s a lot more to come from her both physically and mentally. She’s just very exciting.

“They’ll both [Precise and Diamond Necklace] be trained for the Guineas, whether it be France, Britain or Ireland. The lads will decide. I don’t think we'll see either of them again this year. When you get a special one you have to look after them.”

If we were to guess, the sensible option would be to send PRECISE to Newmarket next year and DIAMOND NECKLACE to France where she’ll get cut in the ground. They both look good, but Aidan is clearly tingling downstairs about this horse, so let’s get ready for a winter of hype building around this horse.

Speaking about hype, over jumps, MASKED MAN looked very good and could be a horse to follow closely this season.

Now, health warning - he may be the classic Twiston-Davies-trained early-season novice who is legless when it gets to the spring, but he won so easily yesterday at Chepstow yesterday one has to take note. The way he quickened up after his mistake at the second-last hurdle proved that of a clever horse, and he couldbe a Graded horse this year. He has plenty of gears, but he should also stay and might well be one for the Challow or Formby at Christmastime.

We’ll see a lot more novices this season, and a few of them will be trained by WP Mullins (Mullins trains his half brother BATMAN GIRAC), but on this side of the water, he could take very high order! Nice horse.

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