Mark Howard reflects on the recent key action including Defi Du Seuil and Shishkin
Our columnist offers his verdict on the recent performances from Defi Du Seuil, Goshen and Pentland Hills as the countdown to Cheltenham continues.
Defi Du Seuil is proving to be a horse of a lifeline for Philip Hobbs. Still only seven, the Voix Du Nord gelding has won 13 of his18 races since joining the Minehead operation having landed a bumper for Emmanuel Clayeux in his native France.
His two-and-three-quarters of a length victory in the Matchbook Clarence House Chase at Ascot was his seventh Grade One win and he now heads to Cheltenham for the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase seeking his third Festival success.
Barry Geraghty’s mount readily picked up longtime leader Un De Sceaux, who was bidding for his third win in the two miles one event at the weekend, after the second last and won hard held. His jumping was sound throughout and he outclassed the 12-year-old, who is a ten times Grade One winner himself.
A reproduction of such an effort on Wednesday 11th March will see Defi Du Seuil mighty hard to beat. The one proviso remains, he could be vulnerable on quicker ground over the minimum trip. Defi Du Seuil has looked a two mile chaser of the highest quality on his three starts this winter but those victories have all been gained on soft or heavy surfaces.
Earlier on the same card, Goshen extended his winning sequence to six wins, three of which have come over hurdles. Gary Moore’s four year old always looked in charge of his four opponents and easily drew clear after the home turn. An eleven lengths victor, his win didn’t tell us a great deal more than we already knew and doubts remain over his effectiveness operating left-handed, especially having run down the penultimate flight on Saturday.
As regards the JCB Triumph Hurdle, the one thing in his favour is the fact the race is run on the New Course at Cheltenham where there is more emphasis on stamina than jumping – there is a long run between the second last and final flight. There is no mistaking the size of his engine though.
There was some compelling action and thrilling finishes at Haydock over the weekend with Ballyandy turning back the clock in the Grade Two Unibet Champion Hurdle Trial. Rather like stablemate Stolen Silver over an hour earlier, Nigel Twiston-Davies’ former Betfair Hurdle winner looked a forlorn hope halfway on the run-in but the nine year old found a second wind and reeled in last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner Pentland Hills on the line. Placed in the International and Christmas Hurdles earlier in the season, it was Ballyandy’s first win for nearly a year.
As far as the runner-up is concerned, all is not lost in terms of the Unibet Champion Hurdle but it was a frustrating defeat nevertheless. Keen during the early stages, Pentland Hills looked all set for a decisive win as he took over at the last but his early exertions took their toll late on as Nico De Boinville’s mount tied up in the testing conditions.
Many will argue Nicky Henderson’s gelding should be beating a nine-year-old rated 155 if he is going to land hurdling’s biggest prize of all in March. That is fair comment but the ability is there and, if he settles in a strongly run race, especially on better ground, I wouldn’t rule him out from playing a leading role in the Champion Hurdle as he bids to follow in the hoofprints of Katchit (2008) and the ill-fated Espoir D’Allen (2019) by winning it at the age of five.
Sam Brown is beginning to make up for lost time and is now two out of two over fences winning the Grade 2 novices’ chase at the Merseyside track. Absent for 750 days prior to winning on his chasing bow at Lingfield earlier this month, the eight year old was back in action eleven days later and he ultimately ran out a comfortable 15 lengths scorer in an event which has been won by Taquin Du Seuil, Bristol De Mai and Waiting Patiently in recent years.
The Black Sam Bellamy gelding looked in trouble turning in but he seemingly possesses an abundance of stamina and was very much in charge by the time Windsor Avenue departed at the second last. Soft or heavy ground appears to be a necessity and underfoot conditions are expected to dictate his future both this season and beyond. Provided he remains in one piece, one can envisage him winning a big staying chase, perhaps the Ladbrokes Trophy later this year, one day.
Nicky Henderson has won the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle on three occasions, including with Altior four years ago. The former champion trainer unleashed a potential prime candidate for the 2020 version at Newbury on Wednesday.
Former winning pointer Shishkin had created a favourable impression when winning a Kempton bumper during the spring but was slow to come to hand this Autumn. The six year old got not further than the second flight on his hurdles debut at his local track last month but it was a different story last week. The Sholokhov gelding jumped efficiently throughout and displayed a ready turn of foot on the run-in to pull eleven lengths clear of the highly regarded Shakem Up’Arry.
Henderson indicated afterwards that he is keen to get more practice into Shishkin before the Festival and has the Listed Sidney Banks Memorial Hurdle at Huntingdon (6th February) in mind. That is over two miles three, which won’t be issue, but he is clearly not short of speed either. He looks an exciting prospect with genuine Grade One pretensions this season.
24 hours later, Panic Attack produced a similar performance in the Alan Swinbank Mares’ National Hunt Flat race on her racecourse bow at Market Rasen. Willie Mullins has handled his fair share of high-class fillies over the years and, if Thursday’s effort is anything to go by, then he has another smart one on his hands with this daughter of Canford Cliffs.
Balloted out from a Listed event at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, she gained ample compensation at the Lincolnshire venue. Cruising into the lead approaching the two marker, she breezed clear under Paul Townend to win by ten lengths, a winning margin which could have been doubled had her rider wished. Still only four, she is expected to head straight to Cheltenham in March for the Festival bumper, a race Ireland’s champion trainer has won nine times, but never with a four year old.
Indeed, Cue Card was the last from that age group to prevail ten years ago, although Panic Attack’s stablemate Blue Sari went close last year.
