Saturday
The day at Sandown started with a belter of a performance from the John Ferguson hurdling debutante Arabian Revolution who didn't come off the bridle to route the opposition in the juvenile hurdle. What he beat I'm not sure but he could not have done it any easier and McCoy will not have had too many rides this simple in his career as he cruised to the front coming over the last and cantered 8 lengths clear of the rest. Ferguson has his string in really good form this season, getting the best out of some useful flat racers, and he appears to have another nice one on his hands here. Let's not get carried away, this was a class 3 race, but the winner was very impressive and will surely be out again soon (although possibly not as quickly as Monday where he holds an entry up at Musselburgh) as he has barely had a race here and is in need of experience. Quite an exciting horse for the yard though.
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| AP barely had to get serious aboard Arabian Revolution |
Stepping up significantly in class now for our next horse in the shape of the winner of the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle - L'Ami Serge, who put his unbeaten hurdling record on the line here and comfortable held onto it. Jolly's Cracked It, also unbeaten over hurdles, was dispatched by a whopping 14 lengths and you felt that it could have been more if the pace in the race had been in any way decent from the off. The race was run at a dawdle which really shouldn't have suited the winner but he still accelerated away in impressive fashion, and notably seemed to jump far better when the pace got serious at the business end. Granted a thorough test at this 2 mile trip, as the Supreme would provide, and you feel there is even more to come from the Henderson horse. Another one in the Simon Munir colours as well - he has some serious novice hurdlers this year!
L'Ami Serge is now into 5/1 joint favorite for the Festival opener after incessant support at the 7/1 he initially was post race, and Henderson confirmed he will now go straight to the festival after three quick runs. Interestingly the trainer felt he may be even better going left-handed! Considering he shares favoritism with Douvan, the Willie Mullins horse, I would much rather back this Sandown winner who has the form to back up the hype. Douvan may well be a serious horse but we've seen Willie have a few impressive debutantes than don't back up on their 2nd run recently, and I'd much rather take L'Ami Serge from the two market leaders. Certainly of all the horses in the Supreme market he has for me the best form in the book and still looks well capable of more improvement.
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| L'Ami Serge was hugely impressive taking the Grade 1 on the Sandown card |
We must touch on a mare I absolutely love in the shape of the John Quinn trainer Aurore D'Estruval who gave weight and a beating to her rivals in the listed mares race on the card. She is a hugely game horse and I always have time for horses who give their all, however this one also has the talent to match and didn't have to dig too deep to take victory by a comfortable 2 lengths. Now a 5/1 shot for the mares hurdle at the festival I think that rates as a great e/w bet, especially as the market leader Annie Power is not certain to even line up in March. If Willie Mullin's wonder mare lines up she will take all the beating and you will be looking at 5/1 on the day, but if not there isn't a chance you will get 5/1 on Aurore D'Estruval! She looks a value ante-post wager, especially as we know she acts round the course and will appreciate the better ground come March.
Finally from Sandown we may have seen a future Grand National winner in the shape of the Paul Nicholls trained Unioniste who stayed on powerfully to win the concluding race, a 3 mile handicap chase, by 10 lengths. Triolo D'Alene also ran his best race in a while to take third, indeed there were mutterings on social media that given a better ride he could have finished a lot closer to the winner, and both will be of interest going forward. Triolo especially will be better on better ground, having had breathing issues in the past, but the winner (25/1) and 3rd placed (33/1) horses will be in my Grand National thoughts. Being a 7 year old goes against Unioniste, so this year's race may actually come too early. but Triolo has had a breathing operation over the summer and hopefully will run a lot better than last year, where he was pulled up in the race. Both horses will have the big one at Aintree in their targets though so if you do fancy either they rate as a relatively 'safe' ante-post bet.
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| Could Unioniste be Nicholl's main Grand National hope this year? |
Let's dash over to Wincanton for our last horse to take out of the day in the shape of the Harry Fry trained Fletchers Flyer, who turned the competitive looking Novices Hurdle into a stroll in the park as we won as he liked by 8 lengths. This horse gallops all day, and when he hit the front going out onto the 2nd circuit there was only one outcome and Fletchers Flyer took his record over sticks to 2/3 with this impressive win. It looks like Punchestown will be the target for this hurdler as he won the bumper at the festival there last year, however we may catch him at Haydock before that and he is one to keep well onside.
Sunday
On Sunday Naas staged their first ever Grade 1 race with a hot Novices Hurdle which was billed as a showdown between Willie Mullins hype horse Tell Us More and the Gordon Elliott trained Free Expression. Both came into the race with unbeaten records to defend, Free Expression having 1 more race in his copy-book, and the market was effectively a match between these two.
However as they crossed the line we heard the sound of bubbles bursting all over the shop as the Willie Mullins trained McKinley got up coming over the last to beat Tell Us More, who found disappointingly little off the bridle. Tell Us More made a beautiful shape at his hurdles as he took the field along, and had them stretched out rounding the home turn. Indeed he looked coming over the last like the winner but McKinley seemed to find much more in the run to the line, the 33/1 shot eventually winning by 3/4 of a length. Free Expression was beaten fair and square by the from two having been the subject of heavy market support before the off. Perhaps Mark Walsh knows how to ride this one a touch better than McCoy round the Irish tracks?
Tell Us More is now out to 12/1 for the Neptune, whereas the winner was introduced at 20/1 for this market. If the yard were, and still are, correct about Tell Us More with their opinions he really should have won this well, perhaps he will be seen to better effect over 3 miles, or with something else to set the pace? The 16/1 for the Albert Bartlett is a more attractive price for me as there didn't appear to be a huge fluke to the result at Naas and it could be Tell Us More will get done for speed over the shorter trip. The way Cooper rode him at Naas, varying the speed of the race to try and draw the sting from his rivals, indicate to me they were concerned about getting done for pace. The yard do seem to think the world of him, he hurdles very nicely and looks a chaser in the making so I hope the Mullins team stick him over the 3 mile trip at Cheltenham and will be having a cheeky punt on that 16/1.
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| Tell Us More, not one to give up on yet (Photo Caroline Norris) |
That's all from me, thanks very much for reading!
