Third Time Lucki impresses at Cheltenham
Third Time Lucki impresses at Cheltenham

Paddock analysis: Cheltenham eye-catchers


The leaves are finally falling off the trees, Starbucks has been selling Pumpkin Spice Latte – trust me, it's not so bad as it sounds - for at least four weeks, so it must be more than time to turn all thoughts to the feast of jumping action that lies ahead.

And it didn't take long for the new Cheltenham season to throw up a potential star. Two races in, Third Time Lucki won the two-mile novice chase in scintillating fashion, and already looks a candidate for a return to the track for the Sporting Life Arkle in March.

Third Time Lucki was useful over hurdles, but his physique suggests he's much more likely to come into his own as a chaser – he's tall and angular, a raw-boned type – and he took to the new discipline straight away, tanking along, jumping soundly, and already in complete control coming down the hill.

There are a couple of caveats: the time of the race was nothing out of the ordinary and two of his three main opponents clearly didn't give their running. Third Time Lucki also looked primed for the day, having had a wind op since last season, when, in his trainer's eyes at least, he didn't achieve as much at the end of the campaign as had been expected from its beginning.

Third Time Lucki is likely to be kept away from deep ground and have a campaign focussed on one end in mind, though his effort on Friday makes the November Novices' Chase at the next Cheltenham fixture the obvious second step.

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Next up was quite a valuable a three-mile novice hurdle. Because of where it falls in the season, this race always attracts a mixed bag, full-season novices, those that lose novice status in little over a week and the odd chaser or two.

In a race that tested stamina to the full, albeit under pretty quick conditions, Bardenstown Lad, who is qualified for the Albert Bartlett, got the better of a scrap with Dragon Bones, who isn't. Bardenstown Lad has a deceptive way of racing, having fallen in at long odds on at Cartmel earlier in the season. Off the bridle nearly a mile from home, he was back on it after three out and stayed on strongly to see off the challenge of the runner-up, a plucky mare with more heart than substance.

Bardenstown Lad has plenty to find for an average Albert Bartlett, but he has the right characteristics for the race. However, the most interesting performance in Friday's contest came from one of the chasers, Siruh du Lac.

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Having effectively his first race since the 2019/20 season, Siruh du Lac looked in good order beforehand but clearly 'blew up' after two out. He went with plenty of zest until that point, over a trip that's far enough for him anyway. The Paddy Power Gold Cup back at Cheltenham next month looks the obvious target, his record on the track and his current mark making him very much one for the shortlist at 33/1 with the sponsors.

Friday's card closed with a maiden hurdle. The principals finished in a heap and it's hard to make the form anything out of the ordinary, but it's worth keeping an eye on a couple of those out the back, John Locke and Ballybreeze.

Another Dan Skelton-trained runner to have had a breathing operation over the summer, John Locke dropped away in the straight, after looking a threat turning for home. It's possible he had a problem – he bled on his second outing last season – but nothing was said to the stewards and lack of stamina, for a runner with a mile-and-a-quarter Flat pedigree, seems a plausible explanation.

Given how John Locke went at Kempton on his hurdling debut, Cheltenham, even on the Old Course, seemed an odd track to run him at and it's best to put a line through this effort. John Locke will be an interesting runner if switched to handicaps on the back of this, a very tricky one for the BHA Handicapper to assess with confidence, his yard one of the best around at using the system fairly to achieve a winnable mark.

However, the real eye-catcher in the race was Ballybreeze. He's a big, rangy gelding, more a chaser than a hurdler on looks, and was backed at long odds – in from 80s – on just his second start over hurdles. Dropped out, Ballybreeze took a long time to settle, as his rider Adam Wedge reported to the stewards, and he was still keen when hampered at the fifth. Detached after that, he was very sympathetically handled and came home with running left, passing a few late on.

Ballybreeze is very much a work in progress and he may not be clued up enough to win next time out, but he is definitely one for the notebook longer term.

I Like To Move It wins at Cheltenham
I Like To Move It wins at Cheltenham

Saturday's card was more handicap heavy, the main narrative the up-and-down day of Sam and Nigel Twiston-Davies. I Like To Move It, looking in the pink, caused a minor upset in winning the four-year-old hurdle, but there might have been a stable hat-trick, The Hollow Ginge just run out of things in the staying handicap chase, Undersupervision in with every chance in the novice chase when reacting adversely to the whip on the run-in and almost going off the track.

Undersupervision (why oh why no space, for goodness sake!) is a smashing type, an old-fashioned chaser on looks, so it would be no surprise to see him prove much better at this discipline than he was over hurdles. Not that he'd had much of a chance over hurdles, having just the three runs last season, that lack of experience his undoing – the application of the whip when upsides Does He Know clearly something new, which he wanted to shy away from.

The Hollow Ginge ran a fine race, just denied by a handicap debutant in headgear first time, though in finishing ten lengths clear of the third, he's probably done damage to his clearly generous mark without getting the full benefit of it. His rider, if not his trainer, had better fortune in the two-mile handicap chase, scoring in convincing fashion on Before Midnight.

Before Midnight looked really well in himself beforehand, having his first start since the spring, and he wasn't hard pressed to prevail, another reappearing winner for Sam Thomas's yard, a good piece of placing for a smallish stable. However, this looked a weak race for the money, against mostly averagely-treated rivals that had been on the go over the summer, and, progressive as he is, Before Midnight will need to step up again once he's reassessed.

The main news angle of the meeting was, inevitably, the return to Cheltenham of Gordon Elliott. He had a winner each day, though one of his beaten favourites is perhaps the runner from the yard to take from the meeting.

Tullybeg was sent off at 11/4 for the Pertemps qualifier, but could finish only fifth. 'Only fifth' is historically quite a good place to finish in one of these races, and Tullybeg, who has a mark that would almost certainly be good enough to get him into the Final, may well be of interest, come March.

A well-made sort, a nascent chaser really, Tullybeg impressed with the way he travelled and he jumped with elan, if ever so slightly to the right, looking a big player two out but outpaced off the turn in what was not a well-run race. Tullybeg will be seen to better advantage over a stiffer three miles, the Final presenting just that, run as it is on the New Course.

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