Friday 14th - Hobbs Runs Riot!
Friday was some day to remember for the Hobbs and Dickie Johnson partnership as they nailed a 105/1 treble featuring a potential Grand National winner this year in Balthazar King, who took the Cross Country race for the 2nd year running. On a day where sunshine wreaked havoc, leading to fences being crossed out here there and everywhere punters managed to latch onto Balthazar King and punted him into a 4/7 poke. The experienced campaigner rewarded their faith, beating home Uncle Junior and Sire Collonges on his way to retaining his title. Hobbs immediately nominated the Grand National as the target for this one and plans to send him straight there, he can certainly jumps for fun so must have a good chance if he can stay fit and healthy in the lead up to the big one in April.
The highlight of the treble for me though was the victory of Champagne West in the Novices Chase, a horse we flagged in the preview as being potentially very smart and we were fortunately rewarded as he led home a Hobbs 1-2, beating perennial bridesmade and highest rated maiden fencer in training Colour Squadron. Quotes after the race of 20/1 for the RSA could certainly tempt some punters in as whatever this horse did over hurdles was always going to be a bonus (I know, that old clique!) and he looks a really exciting one for the season ahead. The jockey said post-race that the winner usually comes on for his run, and Hobbs said he thought there would be more improvement to come up in trip as well, so I'm definitely following Champagne West for a while yet.
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| Champagne West impresses in the bright sunshine (Edward Whittaker) |
Elsewhere on the Friday Kim Bailey broke a 4,382 day run since his last victory at the course as he took the honours in the opening amature riders handicap with Charingworth. That is way too long for a trainer of Bailey's calibre to go without victory at NH HQ and I certainly doubt he will be waiting that long until his next one! Bold Henry was a winner in the JP McManus silks and also rewarded Pricewise followers, with Tom Segal putting him up at 12/1 in the morning paper, actually returning at an SP of 14/1, rare for a pricewise tip AND a JP winner! And we were denied a romantic end to the card when Sam Twiston-Davis narrowly denied Tom Scudamore a winner in the race named after his grandfather as he got Morito Du Berlais home ahead of the Scudamore-ridden Knight of Noir. Nicholls revealed post-race the winner had undergone a breathing operation, information I'd rather have heard pre-race to be honest but how often do we find ourselves saying that in this game...I do rather think that these procedures should be declared in the same way as headgear, however I do understand it is a bit of a grey area as there are many different types of breathing op, some much more major than others. I guess we will just have to keep on finding out after missing another winner who has had his breathing fiddled with.
Saturday 15th - A Day of Doubles
John Ferguson started the day in the same form he ended yesterday in...good! His Chesterfield kept on improving his trainers record at Cheltenham, which was poor before this weekend, as he scored by a length over Great Choice who recorded another 2nd place for his rider Tom Scudamore at this meeting. This was a tricky looking handicap before so well done to those who found the winner, Geraghty and Ferguson are forming a really good partnership this year. The one to take out of this race for me was 25/1 shot Song Light who, under 7lbs claimer Kevin Jones, arrived late onto the scene and couldn't get to the winner and runner up however I fancy his trainer Seamus Mullins to find a race for this one in the future. He definitely ran a lot better than his SP suggested he would.
King's Palace put in a really impressive round of jumping on his fencing debut as Tom Scu improved on his 2nd place in the opener to take a very competitive Novice Chase up at 1.15. This really was a lovely round of jumping and I fancy there is a lot more to come from King's Palace as he did appear to idle slightly when left alone out in front, before staying on again as Sausalito Sunrise came to challenge. Turns out this one was another who has had his breathing operated on over the summer and the RSA Chase was nominated as the target for Kings Palace post-race, for which he was cut into 12/1 from 20/1 by Sky Bet. Obviously he was receiving 5lbs from the field, which won't happen any longer, and one of the major contenders did fall in Creepy but that's what the fences are there to do; test a horses jumping! As a chasing debut you had to be very impressed and it will be interesting to see how he goes at Kempton on Boxing Day if he lines up in the Novice Chase at the King George meet.
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| King's Palace; a really impressive fencing debut (Martin Lynch) |
A late Friday tweak to the blog, after Our Father emerged a non-runner for the 1:50, proved profitable as Sam TD gave Sam Winner a great ride to win the Handicap Chase off top weight, really impressive given the testing nature of the ground at Cheltenham on the Saturday. Nicholls was in absolutely no doubt after the race that Sam Winner is a National horse (25/1 for that in case you were wondering) for which SW definitely looks to have the stamina reserves to make an entry worthwhile. Old boy the Package was disappointing here given how well he goes well fresh and perhaps the zest has gone sadly at the age of 11 and it will be interesting to see if Pipe keeps him on the go; he really owes the yard nothing though and no doubt Pipe will do best for the horse.
Onwards we moved to the big race of the day; the Paddy Power Gold Cup, an ultra competitive handicap which there were so many you could make a case for. There were plenty in with a chance coming over the last and we saw an absolute cracker of a finish with Sam TD carrying on where he left off giving Caid Du Berlais an absolute power-packed ride to get this one up in the dying strides of the race to deny last years winner John's Spirit. The runner up produced a great run, really heroic given the weight he was lumbering, and Present View also jumped for fun and ran really well into 3rd on ground that may not have suited, but what a run by the Paul Nicholls inmate. The form of this one will no doubt stack up really well, with 10/1, 8/1, 5/1, 6/1 and 7/1 the prices of the first 5 home reflecting the fact that most horses appear to have given their running so worth watching this one back a few times. Even top hurdler Oscar Whiskey ran to form over the larger obstacles and could well have won the race but for his 1 bad jump close to the end, that would have been some Geraghty magic. I don't know if I'll watch it back too soon though, my heart really goes out to John's Spirit who got so, so close to a memorable double in the race and I might be close to tears if I watch it too soon! After this run you would imagine he will get another hike in the weights and a step up in class beckons; 12/1 for the Ryanair Chase if you fancy him to take that step up in his stride.
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| Caid Du Berlais gets up by the narrowest of margins in the big one |
Before the 3.00 we saw a huge move in the market for Big Easy, 11/4 from 5/1 and probably helped by Terry Warner's pre-race quote;"This one will win barring accidents!". Big Easy had won a big, competitive 33 runner handicap on the flat so the question was could he transfer his form over to the hurdles. Well the answer was yes but he was still denied by Katkeau, the subject of a masterful training performance by David Pipe to get this one ready to win after a 630 day absence and also get the double up for the trainer/jockey duo. No doubt a few bookies will have been toasting the Pipe mastery on Saturday evening, although Katkeau was gambled before the race I don't think it was to the same extent as Big Easy.
The penultimate race on the card went to that familiar duo from Friday; Hobbs and Johnson. These trials for the Triumph and Supreme Novice hurdles run early in the season are normally trumped by something that hasn't run till after Christmas but there was no faulting the attitude of the winner Golden Doyen as he battled away gamely to see off Hargam from the Henderson yard. The winner is still only 16/1 for glory in March however and may need really testing conditions to be seen at his best; if he gets those then you would need a hardy sort to get past him.
Finally a really pleasing bumper for the blog ended the card as Bitofapuzzle from the Harry Fry yard took the spoils at 4/1. She will now head over hurdles and given soft conditions and a stamina test I would make her of interest again. Daring Carlotta disappointed in 3rd place with a few fingers pointed at her jockey on social media post race; she certainly was left with a lot to do to catch the eventual winner. However Bitofapuzzle's performance should not be underestimated, after all she was giving weight to the field, a nice prospect for Fry for the season ahead. This win made Fehily the 5th double winner of the day, following in the footsteps of Sam TD, Nicholls, Tom Scu and David Pipe. The trainers may allow themselves a double or two in the evening, sadly for the jockeys they can't with another bumper day awaiting them on Sunday!
Sunday - RIP Dessie Hughes
Sunday began with the shocking news of master trainer Dessie Hughes, completely out of the blue and awfully sad news. RIP Dessie and thoughts go out to his family.
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| RIP Dessie |
Onto the action on the track and the day began with another Pipe winner, overcoming another massive absence from the track as Unique De Cotte defied a 640 day absence to give Pipe is first JP McManus owned winner. How appropriate it should be a heavily punted favourite! Nicely all the jockeys at Cheltenham on the Sunday wore black armbands as a sign of respect for Dessie.
The 2nd race gave Nicky Henderson his first winner of the 2014 meeting, it would have been crazy if Nicky had gone the whole weekend without scoring given his prominent position in many Champion Trainer books. Hendo must have worn a wry smile as his Vyta Du Roc defied a Paul Nicholls trained favourite in Emerging Talent, the front two pulling a way clear in this 'trial' for the Supreme Novices hurdle (25/1 for the winner) and connections of winner and runner up can be pleased with their runs.
I wasn't that fussed about the first two races on the card however the 3rd up, an Arkle trial, was really exciting with some nice novices going full pelt at the fences over 2 miles. Dunraven Storm and Little John led the field round as they queued up behind; Duke of Navan gave way first through tiredness and then actually fell at the final fence while Vibrato Valtat was on the end of a waiting ride from Sam TD. Little John bravely led over the last but could not hold off the powerful charge of Dunraven Storm; yet another success for Hobbs and Johnson, they have certainly had some meeting! Vibrato Valtat, whom I voiced concerns over his desire to get into a fight, had every chance but really looked booked for 2nd to me and I'd be wary of following him in competitive races for all he jumps well enough.
We took a break from Cheltenham briefly to let emotion overcome us as Hurricane Fly smashed his critics into the ground as he beat Jezki to take another Grade 1 success in the Morgiana Hurdle. I absolutely love the fly but actually backed against him today with the mare Little King RObin in the hope she might get too much rope out in front. However I don't know if I've ever been as happy to lose a bet! The King is dead, Long Live the King!!!!
Now back to the action this side of the Irish sea as the Sholer chase came up next, sadly lacking the two big stars that could potentially have lined up in Sprinter Sacre and Sire De Grugy. However we saw a beautiful jumping performance from the front from Uxizandre as he dropped to 2 miles to take the plaudits and jump towards the head of the Queen Mother CC market. This was a spectacular jumping performance from Alan King's charge under a top Geraghty ride, keep this one to two miles considering the doubts over SS and SDG in the Champion Chase market would be my advice! He had some good good horses in behind but just could not be caught, I'd love to see come March Uxizandre, Sprinter and Sire De Grugy go at it over the minimum trip, one of the races of the meeting that would be.
The big race of the day at Cheltenham, the Greatwood Hurdle, came up at 3.15 and yet again Hobbs and Johnson were the victors as Garde La Victoire toughed it out to see off Vaniteux and Clondaw Warrior. In beating 2 very well handicapped horses who headed the marked you cannot say this was an undeserved winner, in fact you have to be nothing but impressed by the manner of victory. No-one could have been surprised if 2nd and 3rd had been 1st and 2nd so this, like the PP the previous day, could be form to follow throughout the season. My big fancy was Goodwood Mirage, however he was withdrawn due to the ground. Definitely don't give up on him though, given a decent surface don't be surprised if his handicap mark gets made to look silly, not like Jonjo hasn't done this trick before!
We signed off a fantastic weekend with another bumper and it was highly appropriate that the winner was ridden by Richard Johnson in Definitely Red. What a 3 days it has been for Dickie and it does make you wonder even more just how many jockey titles this man would have won if it weren't for AP McCoy? Definitely Red won this in really good style, with 15/8 f Birch Hill for the Henderson stable a big disappointment back in the field and well beaten a long way from home. Definitely Red eventually won unchallenged, the margin of victory similar to Dickie's margin of victory for jockey of the meeting with a whopping 7 victories. Top, top riding Richard!
And that was it. The end to a great three days from Prestbury park and three days what wet the appetite even more for the big festival come March. Still we've plenty of action to come before then and the quality National Hunt actions is coming thick and fast at the moment. It's time to end this review, watch the action back just a few more times maybe and then onto the next one starting with the Betfair Chase next weekend at Haydock.
Thanks for reading.
AB
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