Key market movers for Cheltenham including Jonbon and Lulamba

Triumph Hurdle

• Lulamba (6/4 from 3s)

The well-touted Lulamba had already shortened dramatically for the Triumph Hurdle even before running this season – an entry and some pleasing work at home was enough – and the Auteuil winner shortened significantly once more (6/4 from a general 3s) after giving 10 lb and a three and a half-length beating to the well-touted Mondo Man at Ascot on Saturday.

It’s a little while since Nicky Henderson won this race – with 2015 winner Top Notch following in the footsteps of stablemate Grandouet who won the 2011 renewal – and it’s worth noting that both horses went on to be placed in the Triumph itself.

Saturday's race would have provided the Triumph winner in 2020 had Goshen not tripped himself up at the last at Cheltenham two months later, so it’s a race that has plenty of history, for all Lulamba’s quotes look short before we’ve even seen the pick of the Irish juveniles clash at the Dublin Racing Festival.

Champion Chase

• Jonbon (5/4 from 9/4)

Saturday’s other big market mover from Seven Barrows was Jonbon, who added a bit more substance to his 2024/25 form with a comprehensive six and a half length defeat of two-time Champion Chase winner Energumene in the Clarence House Chase.

Whilst the proximity of Edwardstone in third would suggest it’s not a career-best effort, and the Willie Mullins horses have failed to fire in Britain so far this season, the way he quickened away from Energumene suggests that connections will have plenty of confidence when Jonbon attempts to convert his previous Cheltenham placings – second in both the Supreme and Arkle before missing last year due to stable form worries – in the Champion Chase, for which he is now a clear 5/4 favourite.

On that stable form theme, Henderson’s this winter has been very similar to 12 months ago, though the strong start to January (26% strike-rate compared to 17% in the same month in 2024) suggests all is well at the yard, for all it should be noted that he has saddled around half the number of horses this month compared to the same stage last year.

Mares' Hurdle

• Kargese (8/1 from 5s)
• Take No Chances (12/1)

On the subject of stable form, Mullins has had just one winner from 15 British runners since October. His numbers weren’t that different 12 months ago, but he did pick up high-profile wins in January (and onwards), which have so far eluded the yard this term.

In Ireland, after a relatively quiet (by his standards, only) December, Mullins has recorded a 32% strike-rate, so any concerns about the yard form are probably ill-founded.

That won’t have helped backers of Kargese, mind you, who was another ante-post market mover in the week merely for having an entry confirmed. As it was, her three-quarters of a length defeat to the race-fit Take No Chances in Ascot’s Mares’ Hurdle saw her price drift back out again slightly for Cheltenham, where she is now as big as 8/1. Take No Chances, meanwhile, is now 12s.

The market is obviously a tricky one to get a handle on, given the targets for the big two – Brighterdaysahead and Lossiemouth – remain up in the air.

Ryanair Chase

• Protektorat (14/1 from 25s)

Protektorat ran his rivals ragged en route to a wide-margin win in the Fleur De Lys Chase at Windsor on Sunday, reversing the Peterborough Chase form with Djelo in fine style, and reiterating his Ryanair Chase claims in the process.

Sky Bet reacted by cutting Protektorat to 14/1 from 25s for a Ryanair repeat at Cheltenham in March, while he's 10/1 in the same firm's Non Runner No Bet market. Betfair Sportsbook go 10/1 from 25/1 for the same Festival contest.

Dan Skelton's Ryanair Chase hero had been unsuccessful in his first couple of starts of the current campaign but the trainer had stated a return for this race was high on the agenda all along and he showed up in scintillating form.

The 10-year-old will surely face stiffer competition for the lead in a couple of months' time, and there are a few younger rivals such as market leader Fact To File and King George hero Banbridge who make more obvious appeal, but he would be a tough horse to reel in if in the same form.

Supreme Novices' Hurdle

• Kiss Will (16/1)

Matt Brocklebank analysed Supreme favourite Salvator Mundi earlier in the week – well worth a read, here – but stablemate Kiss Will threw his own name into the hat when running out an authoritative winner at Fairyhouse on Thursday. He’s now 16s after that impressive Irish debut (second to a subsequent Grade 1 bumper runner-up in France) after which his jockey Paul Townend described him as ‘an exciting horse going forward’.

Stablemate Fishery Lane – fifth in last year’s Champion Bumper – produced a better round of jumping than on hurdling debut when landing the maiden hurdle just over an hour later. He could go back up in trip now, and is still available at 66/1 with a few firms for the Albert Bartlett; there will be much worse horses at those odds.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Royal Infantry blotted his copybook when only fourth behind Dedicated Hero in the Sky Bet Supreme Trial Rossington Main at Haydock. With all due respect to Sandy Thomson, the winner doesn’t strike as an obvious Supreme candidate (his jockey spoke of Kelso and then Aintree) and it’s not form to get excited about.

Other novice races and handicaps

• James's Gate - 12/1 Coral Cup
• Mr Vango - 33/1 Ultima Handicap
• Jubilee Alpha - 8/1 (from 10s) Mares' Novices' Hurdle
• Jingko Blue - 33/1 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase

Over at Navan, the novice hurdle – a race won by Banbridge in 2022 and Galvin in 2019 – went to James’s Gate. He might not be quite up to winning a Turners’ Novices’ Hurdle, a race formerly sponsored by his owners Ballymore, but this former Champion Bumper third looks one to keep on side in something like the Coral Cup (12/1 chance) given how well his connections have prepped horses for the handicaps over the last few years.

Like the aforementioned Royal Infantry, Royale Pagaille – who jumped poorly chasing a hat-trick of race wins - was a vanquished favourite in Merseyside, with Mr Vango making all for a game success in the Peter Marsh Handicap Chase. The mud-loving winner has an entry in the Ultima (33s) and would have place claims if the weather took a serious turn for the worse, but with stamina a clear strongpoint races like the Scottish National make more appeal.

The Paul Nicholls-trained Jubilee Alpha rubber-stamped her ticket for Cheltenham in March with victory at Windsor on Sunday, sent off the 8/13 favourite on the back of an impressive win at Taunton at the end of December.

Following the race Paddy Power were among those who trimmed Jubilee Alpha into 8/1 from 10/1 for the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Festival.

Winning jockey Harry Cobden said: “That race at Cheltenham is probably made for her, isn’t it?"

Nicky Henderson continued his fine weekend after Jingko Blue moved a step closer to an outing at the Cheltenham Festival when maintaining his unbeaten record over fences in the Hampton Novices’ Chase.

An outing in the Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase at Ascot on February 15 is next on the agenda for Jingko Blue ahead of a tilt at the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase for which he is a general 33/1 chance.

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