Matt Brocklebank looks back on some of the action from the Winter Carnival at Newbury and has a long-term goal in mind for a tearaway novice under Paul Nicholls' tutelage.
Stroll on road to Golden Miller?
I’m sure we’ve all got our views on Matt Chapman but I thought he gave Paul Nicholls a torrid time of it at Newbury last Friday. His first jibe came after Act Of Innocence beat Sinnatra – both ex-Ditcheat at one stage – in the quality two-mile maiden hurdle, to which Nicholls’ only real response was that it felt “devastating” to have lost them. Then the Sky Sports Racing man went in pretty hard ahead of Regent’s Stroll taking the to the track in the John Francome Novices’ Chase (replay below).
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I suppose it’s all part of being 14-time champion trainer, as well as electing to run a high-profile horse in a Grade 2 event first time out over fences, but I was starting to feel for Nicholls by this point. The horse remained strong enough in the market, going off as the 15/8 favourite, but there was almost an air inevitability about his defeat, especially once he’d negotiated the first obstacle and promptly carted away down to the second.
That just doesn’t happen to Harry Cobden; it’s certainly very rare, anyway. Cobden palpably had little or no control over how quickly the six-year-old was moving, and you could tell from his own post-race interview that he was absolutely amazed that Regent’s Stroll still had the legs to finish third, just six lengths behind the classy winner, Wendigo (BHA: 147).
Regent’s Stroll probably won’t win another race if he continues to behave so bullishly but I can’t be the only one looking at the performance and thinking that Nicholls will secretly quite enjoy turning this horse’s fortunes around from this point.
He's made a career out of gloriously silencing the doubters to some extent, but you only have to go back to last year to be reminded of the project that was Caldwell Potter, written off as an expense flop by many following defeat to Jango Baie at Cheltenham in December, and I wouldn’t be shocked if a route to the Golden Miller Novices’ Handicap Chase at Cheltenham in March is already being mapped for the latest big hope for Ferguson, Mason, Hales and company.
Getting another couple of runs in to qualify certainly won’t be a problem and he might even drop back to two miles at some stage en route, à la Caldwell Potter when second to Gidleigh Park in the Lightning at Windsor in January.
Regent’s Stroll currently has a BHA mark of 143 and if they can somehow look after that, while getting a bit more experience in and teaching him how to tackle fences more efficiently in the meantime, he’s going to look potentially very well treated.
Standing in the way of control…
Sticking with Newbury, I’ll be first to hold my hands up and say I didn’t think Paddy Power winner Panic Attack would stay the Coral Gold Cup trip half as well as she did.
But what about that rank bad standing start? It was back’s against the wall stuff for plenty of punters, not least those who had sided with Pic Roc and seen his price collapse to 6/1 come the off. He had no chance the way it panned out but full credit to jockey Ben Jones for the way he took his medicine and played the patient game, ultimately making the best of what quickly became a very tricky situation (replay below).
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Discover Sporting Life Plus BenefitsHopefully the experience of passing so many horses on the second circuit will benefit Pic Roc, who has been left on a mark of 135 and still has plenty of big days ahead of him.
One of those he went by late on was Hyland and Nicky Henderson’s grey is the other I’d take a positive view on from the race with future targets in mind. He’s shaped pretty well now at Cheltenham and Newbury but come down a total of 4lb for the two runs and is looking on the right side of things from his new mark of 143.
He’s in the Howden Silver Cup at Ascot later in the month and will surely be among the major players if heading that way and the ground doesn’t get too testing.
Matter of time for O’Neills
What a grim time it’s been for Jonjo and A J O’Neill, with Jonjo junior recently revealing his old man basically decided to shut up shop for a couple of weeks while they tried to get to the bottom of what’s been ailing the horses since the season was supposed to have started in earnest.
I’m sure they’ll find something and get it sorted before coming roaring back in the New Year, but it did get me wondering which of theirs could be worth latching onto when it all eventually clicks into gear.
The most obvious one that seems unlikely to be missed is Wilful, whose comeback third in the ‘Welsh Champion’ Hurdle at Chepstow couldn’t have worked out much better.
He travelled sweetly that day which arguably says a lot given how badly some of his stablemates were faring at the time, and ended up under four lengths behind Celtic Dino who went on to be second behind Wodhooh in the Ladbrokes Ascot Hurdle. Celtic Dino is now officially rated 147.
Between the pair in Wales was subsequent Ascot and Cheltenham winner Alexei, who has gone up a total of 20lb and also commands a mark of 147.
Wilful, who has been given the option of next Saturday’s Ladbrokes Handicap Hurdle at Ascot but is no sure thing to get the green light on account of the cloud over the yard, has been raised just 1lb to a revised mark of 135. That looks a bit of a gift all things considered and his return is eagerly awaited.
Highlands Legacy deserves a mention. Not only did he manage a win and a second over fences before the O’Neill shutters came down, but his latest Aintree effort behind Mambonumberfive got a decent little kicker by the winner going in again at Newbury.
Iron Bridge just missed out at Carlisle on his seasonal debut on November 2 and could come into the reckoning again for the Welsh Grand National, in which he was a distant second to Nassalam a couple of years ago, while Roadlesstravelled was reportedly meant to be embarking on a novice chase campaign but I wonder if that might be shelved if it's delayed much longer.
His novice hurdle season petered out last year but his form with Country Mile from Haydock last November suggests the revised rating of 135 would give him a realistic shot of sneaking in near the bottom of something valuable like a William Hill Hurdle at Newbury in early-February.
Published at 16:30 GMT on 03/12/25
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