Ben Linfoot unpicks the best of the Saturday action from Kempton and Warwick with three horses catching the eye at the latter track.
The fog lifted, just about, at both Kempton and Warwick on Saturday and there was plenty of enjoyable action with Eclair Surf running away with the Agetur UK Ltd Classic Handicap Chase and Cobblers Dream doing a similar sort of thing in the Coral Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle.
Today was about them. Eclair Surf was another fine example of Emma Lavelle’s talents with a staying handicap chaser – and it was also a very well-judged ride from Tom Bellamy on the front end at Warwick, his mount winning the battle for the lead despite an early clamour for the position.
Chirico Vallis kept him honest for a few fences, but Eclair Surf soon opened up a lead that he didn’t relinquish, one fencing error not enough to stop his momentum as he ran them ragged on a punishing final circuit.
At Kempton it was a similar story. Jack Quinlan was always prominent on Cobblers Dream, as was the second-placed horse Highway One O Two, and very little got into contention from the rear.
The handicapper will have his say with both after the pair won competitive Saturday handicaps by wide margins, so, it’s only natural to look ahead to the future by picking out the promising efforts from those beaten in behind.
At Warwick in the Classic Chase, I very much liked GERICAULT ROQUE’s run in second. Beaten 13 lengths by Eclair Surf, he’s unlikely to go up at all for this effort but it was another very good performance from a promising and lightly-raced staying chaser.
This was just the six-year-old’s fourth start over fences but he jumped like an old hand, just one novicey mistake at the first fence down the back straight on the first circuit to mark him down. Kept wide by Tom Scudamore, he tried to wear down Eclair Surf after the turn into the home straight but the winner was too good.
There was no shame in that. The David Pipe yard have been struggling – he has had one winner from his last 43 runners and only a handful of those have run to form – so in that context this was a mighty run and there’s more to come from this fellow.
He’s on the radar for the Ultima Handicap Chase at Cheltenham, for which he's 25/1 with Hills and Unibet. He travels well and can cope with the slight drop in trip, while connections won that race a couple of times with Un Temps Pour Tout.
Gericault Roque could sneak in that race with a light weight and two years ago The Conditional was placed in the Warwick Classic Chase before landing the Ultima. Lightning could well strike twice.
Two months ago I asked Philip Hobbs if he thought SPORTING JOHN was a staying hurdler for this article after he’d returned from wind surgery with a bang on his seasonal reappearance in a handicap hurdle at Cheltenham’s November meeting.
I imagine he gave an Alan Partridge-style shrug when answering that question, but he was 25/1 for the Stayers’ at the time and he looked a much-improved version of himself after a Martinstown MOT and, crucially, reverting to smaller obstacles.
It all seemed irrelevant when he failed to follow up on the New Course a month later off a revised mark of 151, but he just seemed to run flat that day and maybe it came a bit too soon, as he’s a horse that needs time between his races.
With 59 days to go to the Festival I’d imagine he will go straight there now, but for which race is the big question after he bounced back to form by sauntering to a classy victory in the seven-runner Pertemps qualifier at Warwick this afternoon.
This was very good off that 151 mark and I’d imagine he’s going to be rated towards the 160s come reassessment on Tuesday, so Philip Hobbs and JP McManus will be having some interesting discussions in the run-up to March.
The highest rating the Pertemps has been won off is 152, so it will be the toughest of tasks even if only eight horses rated more than that number have ever attempted it.
Most would chance their arm in the Stayers’ Hurdle, but Mr McManus, of course, might well have Champ for that contest.
Sporting John is generally 10/1 joint-favourite for the Pertemps and is as short as that for the Stayers’ Hurdle, too, although you can still get 20s with Sky Bet and Coral about him for the Grade One.
Champ or no Champ, on today’s evidence Sporting John deserves his chance to go for another Grade One. He’s definitely a staying hurdler – and he looks better than a handicapper in the sphere, as well.
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Venetia Williams is having a fabulous season and it’s mainly thanks to a strong team of chasers that show no signs of slowing up when it comes to plundering prizes at all levels.
After today’s runners Williams is now 25/104 with her chasers since October 1, a strike-rate of 24% and only Donald McCain, who has had 15 chase winners at 27%, has a better percentage than that amongst the UK trainers that have had more than 10 steeplechase victories over the last four months.
A flurry of big Saturday winners have highlighted Williams’ impressive array of fencers and the latest to land an authoritative win was BRAVE SEASCA, who defied a 9lb rise in the weights when winning the Edward Courage Cup Handicap Chase at Warwick from Sky Pirate.
This was a bloodless performance from the front end, with pinpoint jumping enabling him to keep up a gallop that his three rivals couldn’t cope with, for all Sky Pirate tried as he went for back-to-back successes in the race.
Last season the Pirate went onto win the Grand Annual at the Cheltenham Festival, via the Kingmaker back at Warwick, and Brave Seasca is generally 16/1 for that race if you’re dangerous enough to play in the handicaps before the weights are released.
Williams is due a Cheltenham Festival winner in a handicap chase – she’s on a losing run of 47 since Carrickboy’s 50/1 win in 2013 in what was then the Byrne Group Plate – and she’ll likely go into Prestbury Park with her strongest team of handicap chasers for many a year.
After this, though, Brave Seasca might be nudging towards 150 when he’s reassessed on Tuesday, and given he’s a novice I wonder if an entry in the Sporting Life Arkle might be forthcoming? He’d need soft ground, and he might not hold a candle to the Irish monsters, but it might be a better option for him than a big-field handicap.
As the stats tell us, Venetia knows best, and if we get a wet spring it’ll be interesting to see where she points this improving chaser.