What a treat we have in store this weekend at Cheltenham.
Friday marks the beginning of the three-day November Meeting and includes the Grade 2 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle.
We have information on all six Friday races, while later in the week we’re covering the Triumph Trial, Arkle Trial, the Paddy Power Gold Cup, Shloer Chase, the Greatwood Hurdle and the Supreme Novices’ Trial.
1.10 (Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle – Class 3) – FINE CASTING
The market will be interesting in this qualifier for the Challenger Stayers’ Hurdle Series, as it looks very competitive indeed. Hurricane Harvey may yet return to form, while Hector Javilex is solid at the top and Astigar can go well.
Plenty is expected of Enki Flacke and Sweet Will, but we don’t see them as being as well handicapped as Hardy Boy and especially Fine Casting.
Ben Pauling’s six-year-old was climbing the ranks quite quickly last winter. If he’s ready to go after a break then he will prove to be well handicapped, while he also possesses the speed needed on the Old Course.
1.45 (Handicap Chase – Class 2) – AMARILLO SKY
The Glancing Queen would of course be a very popular winner on her seasonal return, while Grey Diamond, Hasankey and Malystic are also interesting.
The standout horse for us at the weights is Joe Tizzard’s Amarillo Sky. Fifth in the Grand Annual in March, he was improving quickly before that and can resume his progress now off a handy chasing mark. Brendan Powell takes the ride and the pair look well placed to run a very big race.
2.20 (Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase – Class 3s) – HEREDITARY RULE
This is an interesting novices’ chase over two and a half miles. Here, we have some who haven’t taken a single fence, while conversely Railway Hurricane has already run in 14 steeplechases.
All things taken into consideration, Fergal O’Brien’s topweight Pull Again Green should have a fair shout, as should Nigel Twiston-Davies’ Super Six who should have done much better on his fencing debut but can improve now.
Above them on the shortlist however were Chris Gordon’s Unanswered Prayers and John McConnell’s Hereditary Rule, the latter getting the nod.
Unanswered Prayers was very consistent over hurdles but can probably reach a new level if taking to the larger obstacles, while the Irish-trained runner looks very well handicapped.
Hereditary Rule won ever so easily at Cartmel in the summer, then took in a hurdle race last time to ensure his fitness was spot on. Daryl Jacob takes the ride.
2.55 (Veterans’ Handicap Chase – Class 2) – MAGIC DANCER
It’s hard enough to track the progress of horses who are on the way up in their careers and to correlate that with their current handicap marks. What’s even worse however is to do the same with those who are gradually regressing.
This is a great veterans’ chase, one in which lovely types such as Broken Quest, Elegant Escape and Ballyandy may all go well, but two against the field may be Kauto Riko (Tom Gretton) and Magic Dancer (Kerry Lee).
At 11 Kauto Riko still has plenty of zip and he was strongly considered, however the ten-year-old Magic Dancer was in winning form when last seen and has shown the requisite speed as well as jumping ability to give punters confidence in a two-and-a-half-mile race on the Old Course.
Kauto Riko is one of only two rides on the card for the excellent Brian Hughes, but Richard Patrick is on the selection.
3.30 (Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle – Grade 2) – HERMES ALLEN
Still known to many as the Hyde Novices’ Hurdle, the Ballymore is important in sorted out future staying stars and has been won recently by Thyme Hill and Gold Cup winner Coneygree.
A brief look at the names involved this time suggests the result of this race will very much be worth keeping in mind when looking at bets for the festival in March.
Willie Mullins, Paul Nicholls, Nigel Twiston-Davies, Gordon Elliott and Dan Skelton all have fancied horses in this race. We can only judge the horses however, not their handlers, though it’s almost impossible to do so naturally when it comes to runners such as Weveallbeencaught (Twiston-Davies) who makes his hurdling debut.
Elliott’s Music Drive is interesting, while the bulk of the money will probably go the way of Hubrisko for Elliott’s main rival Willie Mullins.
Quid Pro Quo for JP McManus and the Skelton’s is right up at their level, though they may all find themselves playing catch-up to Paul Nicholls’ recruit Hermes Allen.
The five-year-old former point-to-pointer won with his head in his chest at Stratford last month. True, he didn’t have much to beat but in reality, was around 35lbs ahead of a solid yardstick in second and there’s no doubt he will improve from race one to race two.
If the numbers are right and we think they are, then he is at a level above this opposition. Harry Cobden rides.
4.00 (Novices’ Handicap Hurdle – Class 3) – RATHMACKNEE
A very tentative selection for the final race is Rathmacknee. This is a terribly difficult race to solve as a wide-open novices’ hurdle, but this horse at least ticks a few boxes.
Rathmacknee was a very easy winner last time out and could be considered well handicapped for this event. He is also trained by a top-class handler in Nicky Henderson and trained by Nico de Boinville, the pair having won much bigger races than this around Cheltenham.
In terms of the trip and ground there should be no problems at all for this six-year-old, with some of our thinking being that you won’t get too many 124-rated horses in the Henderson yard, so there’s some reason to believe he is very much better than that.
Others to consider are Alto Alto, Galahad Threepwood and Master Dancer.
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