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Liberate - drying ground will help his cause.
By Richard Johnson
Granit Jack won very well last week at Taunton and I finished second to him on a nice horse trained by Phillip Hobbs called Missis Potts. But I still think that the winner would have to step up markedly on that form if he is to figure in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham, although I think that two miles is his trip rather than two-and-a-half. If it was very soft he might have a chance as he handles that ground, but I still think he needs to improve from Taunton. He does look an exciting prospect for fences next season as he was a smart chaser in France. Moving on to Kempton over the weekend, Lacdoudal ran really well in the Racing Post Chase and we could not have been happier with him. The ground was against him so I took him wide down the back straight and up the home straight to try and get the best of the going. He has jumped very well and going to the second last I thought he had every chance of winning but unfortunately after two out carrying top weight began to tell as he is only little. If it had been goodish ground it would have been a different story - if we can get some nice ground towards the end of the season then he would have a fanstastic chance in a big handicap. I think his next target is very likely to be the William Hill Trophy at Cheltenham so I hope the ground will dry up for that as he would have a great chance. He has run very well at the last two Festivals in finishing second both years and it would be fantastic if he could go one better. Punjabi made just about all in the juvenile hurdle on the same card and I think that looked a very good performance. Nobody wanted to make the running and Mick's (Fitzgerald) horse was a little bit keen early on so he let him bowl along. The slightly worrying thing could be that the ground was very testing at Kempton and we won't be sure what it will be like at Cheltenham - but the winner could not have done any more. He has run twice, won impressively twice and there were a couple of nice horses in the field on Saturday so he has done well to do it so convincingly. My big hope for the Triumph Hurdle is Liberate and he has done nothing wrong to be honest. He is a very nice horse and I suppose the fact that he has not run since Boxing Day means people do forget the form slightly. He seems in very good nick - I saw him this morning (Monday) and he looks very well. The Triumph is obviously his target but there are plenty of other good races for him after Cheltenham when hopefully the ground will have dried up just a little bit more. For horses having a run at the moment a fortnight before Cheltenham on this heavy ground, it could be hard to bounce back to the same level of form at the Festival. In a way for me, I am glad he is at home in one piece and will be fresh and well on the day. I also rode Mendo at Kempton for Noel Chance, who was second to Nicky Henderson's Shatbadi. Mendo is a very nice horse and was second a couple of years ago in the big Aintree bumper, but has had a few problems since. He ran recently in a bumper at Newbury on his return and has now had a couple of runs over hurdles to find his feet. He looks a certain winner in most contests wherever he goes next. Mark The Book won the opening race at Exeter on Sunday for me but I would not be getting too excited about him for this season as he is just learning his trade at the moment. Three-mile chasing is probably what he needs really but he is definitely a very nice horse and one for next year. Hopefully he can win somewhere with a penalty over the next three or four weeks. It was nice to ride a double on the card for Philip and I was down riding work the following day on quite a lot of the Cheltenham horses and they all seemed very well. To be honest, Philip always seems to have a quiet January but perhaps this year it has carried on two or three weeks longer than usual. But the horses seem very well now and we are looking forward to the Festival, in particular to Fair Along and Detroit City on the first day to give us a good start. They both took part in some work at Exeter on Sunday and felt really good. They basically did a bit more than they could do at home with a good two-mile canter around the track. That is important for Detroit City as he is such a big fellow and going up the all-weather at home does not really tax him very much. Two weeks before the Champion Hurdle it was nice for him to get out on the grass and do something different compared to home. Philip could not be happier with them and they are two fresh horses for Cheltenham.
