Andrew Asquith had a 5/1 winner in his last ante-post column and returns with another 2pt selection at Newbury.
Weekend View: Saturday March 21
2pts win Getawhisky in EBF Mares Novices' Hurdle Final at Newbury at 5/1 (General)
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The weekend following the Cheltenham Festival is always a low-key one in terms of quality, and with not many races fully priced up, there isn’t much to go at, but the Betvictor British EBF “National Hunt” Mares Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury is one of the highlights.
A series final event, it is a valuable limited Grade 2 handicap which is always chock-full of potential, featuring lightly-raced mares who connections will be hoping can make an impact in graded races next season.
Dan Skelton won this race with Roksana in 2018, who was a rather fortunate winner of the Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival the following season, but she was a smart mare nonetheless, going on to be placed at the top level afterwards and also successful twice more in Grade 2s.
Whether his representative in this year’s renewal, GETAWHISKY, will scale such heights remains to be seen, but there’s a big chance she’s been laid out for this, and is strongly fancied to prove herself some way ahead of her mark.
Skelton showed once again how adept he is at targeting a horse for a specific assignment at the Cheltenham Festival last week, Madara and Supremely West perfectly prepared for the Plate and Pertemps Network Final, respectively, and there is a similar feeling with Getawhisky.
She caught the eye of the stewards on her hurdling debut when coming in for a very sympathetic ride at Worcester in October, and she was in the process of showing much improved form at Ascot next time, looking likely to make a very short-priced favourite pull out all the stops prior to her departure three from home.
Getawhisky made amends at Windsor on her third start, opening her account in this sphere with something to spare, quickening clear on the run-in while leaving the impression she had more gears to click into.
Her run at Market Rasen last time, a qualifier for this, was particularly eye-catching also, weak in the betting and never really asked to get into contention or for maximum effort, but she tanked through the race and finished with running left at the line, seemingly ridden with a bigger target in mind.
She has around seven lengths to find with Charisma Cat on that running, but she meets her on 5lb better terms, and I would bet short odds that Getawhisky would overturn that form off level weights anyway.
The step up to two and a half miles is a catalyst for further improvement, too, and there is a strong chance an opening mark of 119 very much underestimates her - I'm expecting her to start clear favourite and quite a bit shorter than the 5/1 on offer.
Preview posted at 1550 GMT on 17/03/2026
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