Timeform highlight the ratings banker, a big improver and a Flag of note on day two of the Cheltenham Festival.
The Ratings Banker
Tiger Roll – 16.10 Cheltenham
Yes, Tiger Roll is the clear top-rated ahead of his fifteen rivals in the Cross Country Chase but that’s nothing to do with any of his performances within the last twelve months. The former dual Grand National winner has run twice at Aintree since last year’s Cheltenham Festival but has been well beaten over conventional fences in the Betway Bowl last April and the Many Clouds Chase in December when he was pulled up after never going well.
Those two races were against some high-class chasers, but Tiger Roll also finished well held on his latest start in a handicap hurdle at Navan in January over an inadequate two and a half miles.
However, it’s this race which has been Tiger Roll’s main aim all along, at least since he was ruled out of another crack at the Grand National, and his efforts elsewhere have little relevance to this unique test which he clearly relishes.
First successful in the Cross Country in 2018, he was a striking winner when following up a year later by 22 lengths from former winner Josies Orders, and after a blip in 2020 when a tired second to Easysland, having met with a setback earlier that season, he showed all his old zest when roaring back to life with a 17-length defeat of Easysland at last year’s Festival to win his third Cross Country and fifth Festival race all told.
If the return to Cheltenham can conjure up a similar performance from Tiger Roll this year, he’ll be very hard to beat in what’s expected to be the final start of an extraordinary career.
The Big Improver
Saint Felicien – 14.50 Cheltenham
With just three races under his belt, Saint Felicien is the least experienced runner in the massive field for the Coral Cup but that also makes him the hardest for the handicapper to get a handle and, potentially, the one most open to improvement. He made a winning debut at Auteuil for David Cottin this time last year before making a successful debut for Gordon Elliott in a novice at Gowran in November. Going with enthusiasm and taking up the running at the second flight, Saint Felicien was in control when hitting the last and won eased down by two and a quarter lengths from Slip of The Tongue.
No longer qualified for novice events after that, Saint Felicien made his only appearance since in the Grade 3 Limestone Lad Hurdle at Naas in January against some smart and much more experienced rivals. Sent off a shade of odds on, he found Darasso too good in the end but performed with credit, edging ahead approaching the second last before being headed at the last and going down by three and a quarter lengths. Saint Felicien was held in high enough regard to have been given a Champion Hurdle entry earlier in the year and he’s a fascinating contender here stepping up in trip off 11-7. His stable has won the Coral Cup twice before, most recently with Diamond King in 2016.
The Timeform Flag
Shishkin – 15.30 Cheltenham
Horse In Focus, Timeform Top Rated, Horses For Courses
Shishkin is already a dual Cheltenham Festival winner, successful in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2020 and last year’s Arkle Trophy, and now bids to add the Queen Mother Champion Chase to complete a hat-trick also achieved by Altior for Shishkin’s trainer Nicky Henderson. Shishkin has now won all eleven of his completed starts, with a fall on his hurdling debut the only blemish on his record. Easily the most significant of those wins so far came on his latest start in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot in January where he had a belated first meeting with his chief Irish rival Energumene who had to miss last year’s Arkle.
The Clarence House proved a gripping contest, with Energumene going with zest in the lead and jumping well. Energumene was still two lengths clear jumping the last, and it was only in the closing stages that Shishkin, who had pecked at the sixth fence and hadn’t been travelling with the same fluency from some way out, wore him down. Shishkin’s strength in the finish is sure to be key again in the closing stages of the Queen Mother Champion Chase, something he’s demonstrated up the Cheltenham hill at the last couple of Festivals. Even so, there was only a length between Shishkin and Energumene at Ascot, and the latter’s stablemate Chacun Pour Soi is out of the top drawer too, so if either those are anywhere near their best, Shishkin won’t have things all his own way even if he’ll be very hard to beat again.
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