Lydia Hislop: Road to Cheltenham | Reflections on an epic Tingle Creek and more

Chasers took centre stage last week – and specifically, at championship level, the high-wire two-milers performing their feats of athleticism at high speed. Yet there were also at least two horses whose promise for the Gold Cup and RSA Chase also fired my imagination.

Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase

A brilliant tenth straight chase success from Altior in last Saturday’s Tingle Creek reinforced some certainties in a division in which, for almost the entirety of the build-up to last season’s Cheltenham Festival, there were none – even if the ultimate result was wholly predictable.

This time last year, both Altior and then Douvan would turn out to be sidelined – only for both to turn up in March. The latter has been announced as crocked again this season but the former – who cemented his reputation as the best horse in training with this scintillating reappearance at Sandown – is very much present and correct.

Trainer Nicky Henderson was even contemplating another accolade when asked to compare Altior’s talent with that of his other great, the mighty Sprinter Sacre. “It took me a long time to say Sprinter was the best I’ve had but I knew he was. He was unbeatable in his prime,” he said, on Racing UK's Luck on Sunday show.

“Altior has come on right behind Sprinter Sacre and is getting right up there. They were very big shoes that were going to be very difficult to fill, but he’s sort of stepping towards it.”

Unlike Henderson’s assertion that the late Simonsig also belongs in this conversation (given we on the outside must judge ability on what we see on the racecourse, rather than take on trust what a trainer believes they have at home) this is fair comment about Altior, who’s now unbeaten in 15 starts over obstacles.

This victory will dictate plans not only at Henderson’s Seven Barrows yard but also at others across two countries – and most pertinently, at Willie Mullins’ Closutton base, where he trains a clutch of two-mile chasers. Two of them, Un De Sceaux and (twice) Min, have now faced Altior and lost – a fact jockey Ruby Walsh will undoubtedly be citing when trying to jostle his Festival rides into optimum shape.

More on that later. First some further reflections on the Tingle Creek. So much for the imperious Altior potentially being at his most vulnerable due to lacking race-fitness, the rigour of his rivals and signs of him shaping as though he might do better over a longer trip. Both of the latter two observations remain justified – remarkably, in the case of the latter – but there can be no doubt that the winner was primed and ready to go.

“He was fit – he had to be,” Henderson stated afterwards, referring to the thorough test that the ground and opposition had presented for his horse’s seasonal debut. “He couldn’t have been under-cooked – he would have been undone.”

This was a flawless performance, most notably bar for Altior deciding to jump the second fence as if he thought it was the size of a small house – the sole occasion that I’ve actually seen a chaser jump a fence like a puissance wall, rather than being told that I have. Even ice-cold jockey Nico de Boinville admitted to “a bit of a fright” at that open ditch but felt it served to concentrate his mount’s mind and after that he was all business.

Saint Calvados had set off in front with neither Un De Sceaux nor Altior ever that far away but you could see Sceau Royal wheel-spinning on the heavy ground from an early stage, literally unable to get a grip. Walsh’s mount then outjumped the leader at the fifth before decisively taking over on the lead from the first of the quick-fire Railway fences. From the approach to the Pond fence onwards, the Tingle Creek then developed into a duel – albeit a relatively short-lived one.

Despite Un De Sceaux having his ideal ground for dropping back to two miles and jumping impeccably, Altior had already taken his measure soon after the second last, regardless of not being fluent at that fence. The winner eased past nearing the final flight and, although the runner-up rallied to jump it upsides, his pursuer was left firmly behind on the rise to the winning post.

Both young upstarts in this division – who’d benefitted from a previous run – were put firmly in their place here. Even though he finished third, Saint Calvados was arguably a bigger let-down than Sceau Royal because he was proven to thrive on heavy ground.

Harry Whittington, his trainer, is now talking about stepping up in trip after passing on jockey Gavin Sheehan’s report that “when Un De Sceaux quickened, we were flat out”. Yet this horse still wouldn’t interest me for the Ryanair as I suspect Cheltenham’s undulations aren’t his bag.

When anticipating a bold run from Sceau Royal here, I’d been calculating without Sandown’s chase course producing such testing ground. By the time the Tingle Creek was staged, the times indicate the ground was heavy; the downpour in between that and the earlier Henry VIII Chase accounts for the novices’ event clocking a quicker time.

In that context, it’s to the credit of Daryl Jacob’s mount that he jumped so well – although at times out to his left – and tried valiantly to work his way into the race after the last of the three Railway fences. But he was a spent force soon afterwards.

Given we’re about to plunge into deep mid-winter, Sceau Royal might be best left off until the spring – although the Desert Orchid Chase, at what can often be Kempton’s Christmas oasis of sounder ground (isn’t that right, Jockey Club Racecourses?), might offer one option before the year is out. After that, he’s playing for a place in the Champion Chase.

Altior’s campaign writes itself. Next stop, the Game Spirit in February and then Cheltenham – the Queen Mum, all faint wondering about whether he might range up in trip silenced. After that, Henderson mentioned a return to Sandown for the Celebration Chase but perhaps tackling 2m4f in between in Aintree’s Grade One Melling Chase.

Although his trainer had paid the £500 to keep Altior in the King George earlier last week, he was cool on the idea when speaking at Sandown and later reported that he, de Boinville and owner Patricia Pugh had “virtually ruled it out… it’s very unlikely”.

“I’d love to have a go – and if it was in a month’s time and on decent ground there would not be any doubt we would – but I can't believe he’s going to come out of yesterday’s race in 17 days' time not a little bruised,” he said.

“Going that gallop in heavy ground has to have taken something out of him and it was his first run back. We’ve got time on our side. I know we can be accused of wrapping him up in cotton wool, but there's only one race for him and that's the Champion Chase. That’s the only thing that really matters.”

Altior has now joined Sprinter Sacre in being one of just a handful of horses too good for Un De Sceaux. Sprinter was able to outgun him even in his Indian summer of three seasons ago, let alone at his frightening peak. Yet the Mullins-trained 22-times winner, who inspires one of the few supporters’ scarves worthy of the effort, is now himself entering the autumn of his career.

In the immediate aftermath of the Tingle Creek, Walsh was succinct in defeat. “Un De Sceaux has run a super race,” he said. “He jumped super and ran his heart out. I have never been a great loser and I’m not any better now.”

There was nothing more to say than that. This was one top-class horse being beaten by a younger, even more talented rival, both of them utterly reliable and credits to their respective training operations.

Walsh was more expansive in his Racing UK column, asking himself whether he ever thought he might win: “Altior arrived there going well and, two out, I was hanging in there as he moved by me. But maybe three or four strides before the last fence, he started to come back to me and I was thinking, “he’s either blowing up or he’s having a look at it”.

“I got a really good jump at the last and thought, “if he’s blowing up, I’ll get him” but when we landed, Nico caught hold of Altior and he quickly reasserted and put the race to bed. For me, it was a short-lived sense of “I might win this”. The handicappers have Altior 7lbs above Un De that Sceaux and that’s the way they ran.”

That must make it all but certain that Un De Sceaux won’t be contesting the Champion Chase in March, even if the ground was sufficiently testing. To my mind, that leaves Footpad or Min as Mullins’ chief representative and the market bills them as second and third favourites. I’m not ignoring stablemate Great Field; he just doesn’t belong in this paragraph.

Unlike Footpad’s return, in which he was already beaten by Saint Calvados before hitting the deck at the last, Min made a straightforward return to action in an edition of the 2m4f John Durkan that couldn’t have been tailormade better. In doing so, he also registered his first Grade One success in open company, having been disqualified for causing interference when passing the post first at Leopardstown last December.

In a steadily run affair that favoured speed and in no way tested stamina for the Ryanair (or further), Min got the lead he craves and beat staying horses who aren’t as quick as him. Walsh’s only concern came when misjudging that Shattered Love was dropping away and trying to muscle out of a pocket entering the straight. Put back in his box by Jack Kennedy on the mare, that made for a tight squeeze up the inside of Balko Des Flos at the second last but, on wriggling through unfussed, Min was soon in command.

“Ruby was maybe a bit bold there,” observed Mullins. “But he had to do what he had to do. It was good and the horse responded. He jumped brilliantly and I was very pleased with that. I don’t mind going back to two [miles] at all; he pulled very hard in behind there… He’ll probably go back in trip for Christmas, but we’ll see what we have in this division.

“We have Un De Sceaux there and Great Field so we could try to keep this fellow at the longer trip and try to find races for him. It didn’t look like he was stopping today but it was a slowly run race.”

So the Ryanair is a distinct possibility – although Mullins did put the kybosh on observers’ notions that Min could step up to three miles. “I doubt we’ll be asking him to go beyond two-and-a-half miles,” he said. But it is not yet a total slam-dunk (although entirely possible) that Footpad – spoken of, remember, as a future Gold Cup horse – will elbow Min entirely out of Mullins’ Champion Chase calculations.

The trainer believes Min is at his best over the minimum trip, getting cover in a fast-run race, but Walsh – understandably – doesn’t want to settle for a Champion Chase ride on a horse who’s already been twice comprehensively beaten by Altior. Min and Un De Sceaux have been proven unable; with Footpad, the possibility still exists. We’ll know more if Footpad turns up rather than Min or Great Field over 2m1f at Leopardstown this Christmas.

While Un De Sceaux was carried out on his shield last weekend, Great Field stabbed himself in the foot when haring off in front of Special Tiara in the Grade Two Hilly Way at Cork.

He plunged into the dirt at only the second fence, having jumped it cleanly and unhassled but landing too steeply. He’s starting to look like a small-pond bully with a fragile frame and mindset. Mullins has done well to win the races he has with this sketchy character. He’s massively underpriced at 20/1 for the Champion Chase for my money, great raw talent though he might be.

Let the record state that Cork winner Castlegrace Paddy has in the past been at his best when the ground is at its most testing and the sight of him detaching himself from the pack and giving solo pursuit of the leader was iron in the soul of a Special Tiara fan like me.

Having been left in a long lead from the second, the 2017 Champion Chase hero – now firmly in the veteran stage – was swallowed up readily entering the home turn. He tried gamely to battle on – the instinct is unwithered in him – but testing ground was never his bag and he was tired when clambering over the penultimate flight and barely holding on for third.

The sum of last season’s parts suggested Special Tiara isn’t the force of old, although that did coincide with a whole damn campaign on unsuitable ground, but this was worse. He’s not the kind of former champion I’d like to see back at the Festival in a Grand Annual, because he only knows how to go hard and give his all. I’m sure his sensible connections will do the right thing, however.

From Castlegrace Paddy, this was a career-best effort from a still-improving second-season chaser, whose trainer Pat Fahy revealed has previously been held back by physical problems, including allergies caused by pollen that make late-season and summer targets unworkable.

“It was a pity Andrew Lynch couldn’t ride him as he’d all the schooling down with him but he got injured. I was delighted to get Paul [Townend] to fill in,” Fahy said afterwards. “He wasn’t jumping fluently in Punchestown [behind Footpad in a novices’ Grade One last April] and ran a bit flat but he’s summered fierce well and was in great shape coming here.

“He’s just a different horse this year. He’d a few problems last year but is all there now and has had no injuries. He was working out of this world and if we didn’t win here, we were going to struggle this year.”

The plan is now Leopardstown’s Grade One 2m1f chase over Christmas, in which he could face talents as proven and diverse as Min, Footpad or Sizing John not to mention Ballyoisin (unbeaten this season), Waiting Patiently (if re-routed from the King George) and Simply Ned. Fahy hopes he’ll perform well enough there to earn his place at Cheltenham.

Let the record also state that Castlegrace Paddy has been campaigned exclusively right-handed since his Rules debut in a Navan bumper in November 2016 yet Fahy reported that “Paul said he would be better going left-handed”. The horse undoubtedly adjusts left at his fences, if that’s his one-time jockey’s reasoning. However, Fahy believes his upwardly mobile chaser is “versatile enough” when it comes to ground.

Back in a 16-length second, ten-year-old Doctor Phoenix didn’t jump that well and has now twice this season been well below the level of form that last term brought him three successes in his first campaign for Gordon Elliott. He isn’t quite Grade One material.

Ryanair Chase

On to the repository for horses not deemed good enough to contest either the Champion Chase or the Gold Cup – except this is, for those years that this race has been won by younger horses, such as Imperial Commander and Cue Card, who were transitioning into staying chasers. (Maybe Vautour, too – sadly we’ll never know.)

Balko Des Flos might have been one of those last season, when brushing aside Un De Sceaux to win by an idling four-and-a-half lengths. Shattered Love could be this, if following her JLT success at last term’s Festival connections prefer to stick around two-and-a-half miles rather than trying her over further.

However, as I argue in the next section, I believe both Gigginstown raiders belong in the 2019 Gold Cup. That said, if you do like Balko Des Flos to defend his title and don’t mind throwing the odd ante-post dart that ultimately misses the board, then 10/1 for the Ryanair isn’t bad for a horse clearly coming back to form race by race.

On the strength of Min’s defeat of that duo in a steadily run John Durkan Chase, he is now marginally shorter than stablemate Footpad for the Ryanair but no more than a point covers them plus stablemate and 2017 winner Un De Sceaux. For my money, the last-named is currently the most likely to turn up in this race – if he comes to Cheltenham at all at the advanced age of 11, mind.

Should he turn up here, muttered Gold Cup hope Footpad would definitely fall into the category of classy transitioner but Min would have to prove his stamina for what would surely be a well-run 2m5f. His Aintree defeat in April, when outstayed to the extent that Politologue appeared to rally, makes me doubt his capability in that regard.

To round up the Irish action in this division, back in fourth behind Min at Punchestown last Sunday was the 2018 Festival Plate winner, The Storyteller, who this time actually tried to give it a go but is presenting as a shade below the required class.

Back in Britain, it’s great to see a revivified Charbel consistently displaying his talent for fences this season. In fact, he showed us something new last Sunday when registering a career-best performance in utterly dominating the Tattersalls Ireland Edredon Bleu Chase, registered as the Peterborough.

(At last, a sponsor understanding the cachet they’ve purchased via a race’s history – here by celebrating the popular four-times winner, 1998-2001 – rather than trying to obliterate it by plonking their name down at the expense of anything else. Well done, Tattersalls Ireland. I like it so much you got name-checked twice.)

There were five horses almost in a line charging towards the first fence in Huntingdon’s 2m4f Grade Two and no prizes for guessing who blinked first. Yes, the 2016 winner Josses Hill was having flashes of the snooker-table, producing a few stiff jumps, but he rallied late on to produce (on paper at least) his best effort since this race was staged at Taunton last year and he was second to Top Notch.

Charbel didn’t fly the first either, nor even the second but trainer Kim Bailey and jockey Noel Fehily (replacing the concussed David Bass) had resolved to be positive. Cheekpieces were also refitted for the first time in a year “to try to make him a bit more enthusiastic about his jumping” according to Bailey. Once Fehily had allowed Charbel to collect himself, the plan worked. They pressed on again from the third and had established a clear lead after two further fences.

After that, the partnership was never headed and ultimately won by eight lengths, despite adjusting slightly left on several occasions. Bailey credited a back operation and the dedicated one-on-one work of his team for this welcome revival.

He had already expressed regret, when Charbel won at Chepstow earlier this season, at not having entered the horse in the King George because he’s hankering after stepping up in trip. “I think he’ll progress over three miles,” he said then.

Supplementing for Kempton’s Christmas highlight isn’t considered an option now, as it comes too soon, so we might not now see Charbel until February when Bailey aims to execute his ambition of stepping up in trip. However, he also suggested that the Cheltenham Festival would not be on the horse’s agenda because he deems Charbel is better on a flat track.

Back in second, Gods Own was carrying a 6lb penalty for his previous Haldon Gold Cup success and ran right up to that creditable level, as the only rival able to give proper chase to Charbel. The mare Rene’s Girl ran well for a long way prior to fading but San Benedeto made an early mistake and was never in the hunt thereafter.

Before we pass on through, it should be noted that King George-bound Politologue had his form franked twice last week: by Min and by Charbel. Smart though I think he is, I still don’t fancy him to run well at Cheltenham, however. Yet the finality of Altior’s Festival target leaves the way open for stablemate Might Bite to switch to the Ryanair… Just saying.

Magners Gold Cup

Star turn of the week in this division was Definitly Red in a race also notable for the abortive return of the 2017 Grand National winner One For Arthur. Yet I would argue the most promising Gold Cup indicators in this period were both wearing maroon-with-white-starred silks.

The 6lb penalty Definitly Red had to shoulder in the Grade Two Betway Many Clouds Chase because of his various recent successes at that level – including his seasonal debut Charlie Hall victory – should have put Double Shuffle right in with a shout against him.

Admittedly last season’s King George runner-up was making his de facto return after falling at the first at Wetherby but he was never quite able to lay a glove on his doughty front-running rival. Definitly Red was back to the level of form that saw him win January’s Cotswold Chase last term prior to being bang outclassed by Native River and Might Bite when sixth in the Gold Cup.

Trainer Brian Ellison has needlessly become rather protective of Definitly Red’s reputation, as trainers and owners at all levels often do, reaching first for defensiveness 101 – “I don’t feel he gets the credit he deserves” – prior to progressing to the early stages of prickly paranoia with “maybe it’s because we’re based up north”.

Clearly Phil Martin, who along with wife Julie owns this highly reliable good-jumping chaser, needs to get with the programme. In the aftermath of the Charlie Hall, Martin spoke with foolish clear-sightedness. “A small field tends to suit Definitly Red,” he said. “When he gets his own way, he’s a fantastic jumper but when he gets hassled it falls apart a bit. It was too much of a grind for him in the Gold Cup and he’s probably 7-10lbs short of top class.”

Further statement from Earth incoming: just because I and others might think Definitly Red won’t win the Gold Cup doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate his many superb achievements to date as a chaser. He was a fine sight on Saturday, turning away a substantial rival in the most likeably honesty fashion.

Ellison now plans to rest Definitly Red and then build back up to the Gold Cup, hoping a sounder surface with a fresh horse can make 39 lengths’ difference. (Neither was the key factor in his defeat to my eye.) Beyond that, he will be engaged in the Randox Health Grand National and Betway Bowl at Aintree, with the latter (in which he unseated early last season) currently favoured.

Whereas One For Arthur’s third-fence unseating of Tom Scudamore is a setback to his National ambitions, Double Shuffle is now on track to return to the site of his standout career performance to date when flattered to get so close to an idling Might Bite last Christmas. The BHA’s official handicapper has lost faith in the worth of that King George performance, dropping him to a mark of 157 – 9lbs below his peak rating.

It’s also set to be a tougher edition of the King George this year, with RSA winner Presenting Percy’s owner Philip Reynolds even floating the idea of supplementing if Kempton’s ground is better than that of Leopardstown over Christmas.

“Pat (Kelly, trainer) felt the ground wasn’t soft enough,” Reynolds told At The Races last weekend at Punchestown, explaining why the Gold Cup favourite wasn’t running.

“We thought we might get a run into him early November time, then we thought we were going to Punchestown. Leopardstown is only a couple of weeks away; if Pat wasn’t happy, I wasn’t going to push his hand so we will just have to wait until the 28th [for the Savills Chase, the ex-Lexus]…

“We’re running out of time, we’re running out of places, so unless we supplement him for the King George… the ground is softer over there, as we saw on Saturday [at Sandown].”

Ah… but Sandown and Kempton at this time of year are very different animals, aren’t they Jockey Club Racecourses? You may claim (and Reynolds might think) they’re interchangeable but they’re not, are they? That’s why – pressing play again on tape 1 side 1 rant 1 – British racing can ill afford to lose Kempton if it wants high-class horses, doing what they do best, to entertain the public and serve the industry at Christmas.

Asked whether supplementing for the King George was a serious consideration, Reynolds added: “We’ve got to get him out. We didn’t take a chance today, so we’re not going to take one in Leopardstown if the ground is every bit as good. All options – we’ll have to consider everything.”

Talk of being that goldilocks-particular should be unnerving about a potential Gold Cup hero but although Presenting Percy’s best form is on testing ground, that might just have coincided with him maturing over fences. He won the 2017 Pertemps Final on a sound surface.

His trainer is also not scared of an idiosyncratic campaign, having taken in the Grade Two Galmoy Hurdle with this horse en route to the RSA last term. Kelly probably just wants a fresh horse for March – no bad thing, the Tizzards will tell you – and may take the view he’s provided Presenting Percy with sufficient chase experience in a five-start novice campaign.

Yet Gordon Elliott is giving last term’s JLT heroine Shattered Love a more expansive education and her latest second to Min in the John Durkan – a race run in a fashion utterly unsuited to her strengths – was the most persuasive piece of evidence yet that her March target should be the Gold Cup.

In a race in which speed was at a premium, the mare became outpaced entering the home turn and then struggled to hold her footing as Ruby Walsh attempted to shoulder Min out of a pocket at the top of the straight. But Shattered Love is a big mare – “she looks like she’s a gelding,” Elliott said after her Festival victiory – and answered rider Jack Kennedy’s calls to hold her line.

But she isn’t as nippy as Min and, as he got away from his field switched back to the inside, all she could do was stay on purposefully to narrow the gap to a length and a half at the line. She’s entered in the King George and the Savills Chase if Elliott fancies getting her out over Christmas but he’s mentioned a few times that she’s a Gold Cup prospect and he might prefer an alterbative route.

Fellow Gigginstown trooper Balko Des Flos also ran encouragingly to my eye when third behind Min in that same race. He made the running, which wasn’t ideal when you recall how much he thrived tracing a strong pace in last season’s Ryanair, and also got outpaced in the straight after letting the winner up his inside.

He’s looking to me like a horse being gradually brought back to a peak by trainer Henry de Bromhead. He was palpably unfit on his seasonal debut at Down Royal and this was a lot better, suggesting the Savills Chase – in which he first indicated a talent for staying at the highest level when second last year – might be his interim target. He’ll need to perform well there, mind, to make the cut for his owners’ Gold Cup squad and this column’s ante-post bet.

Edwulf, whose standout performance came when winning the Irish Gold Cup in February, was never able to get involved over a woefully inadequate trip at Punchestown and finished 35 lengths adrift of Min. The balance of his form strongly indicates that he’s not an absolutely top-drawer chaser but he’s more than capable of pot-hunting a big race if the cards fall right. I suspect that will be trainer Joseph O’Brien’s modus operandi.

Fellow JP McManusite Anibale Fly, third in last season’s Gold Cup and fourth in the Grand National, made his return in a race in which connections couldn’t have hoped he’d get involved – the Grade Two Hilly Way over two miles at Cork. Accordingly, he showed up and jumped round. Horse alive and being primed for more suitable targets. Testing ground brought out some personal bests from him last season.

Dual Grade One winner Tea For Two made a better fist of his return from the summer break, albeit in a less unsuitable race, when staying on steadily from the rear for third in a well-run edition of the Peterborough Chase. That should have prepped him nicely for a shot at the King George, even if that race is sizing up to be a hot old contest. He’s had a wind operation.

Rounding off Aintree’s news from last Saturday, the Becher proved not to have much relevance for the Gold Cup with 2015 RSA and Lexus Chases winner Don Poli sadly pulling up on his return from a 664-day absence and Blaklion finishing tailed off as the beaten favourite. The ground was very testing but the latter, at least, should have been fine on it.

Colin Tizzard has told the Guardian that emphatic Ladbrokes Trophy winner Sizing Tennessee misses the Welsh Grand National and will wait until the new year before appearing again. “He’s an older boy,” the trainer reported. “He had a harder race than I thought. He’s a little bit shuffly. It’ll work very well to give him five or six weeks.”

Unibet Champion Hurdle

There is a sense of an ending in this division. In the past week, three-times Champion Hurdle runner-up My Tent Or Yours has been retired and his old rival The New One could follow him into the sunset if he doesn’t run well in this Saturday’s Unibet International Hurdle. (More fittingly known as the Bula, given we’re celebrating past or passing hurdling talents here.)

My Tent Or Yours started off as a hothead in his youth but blossomed to win two Grade Ones, the 2013 Fighting Fifth and Christmas Hurdles, during his dependable career. His success in last season’s Bula, beating The New One, was his first over hurdles since the latter of those two triumphs but he was also closest pursuer to the likes of Jezki, Annie Power and stablemate Buveur D’Air at the Festival.

Trainer Nicky Henderson paid a loving tribute to ‘Tent’ in his Unibet blog. “His old joints were starting to get a little bit rickety and when he’s galloped around for so many years like he has, wear and tear starts to show so he deserves an honourable retirement,” he said.

“Luckily nobody retires horses better than JP [McManus, his owner] and he can now join all his old friends like Binocular and the rest of the pensioners at Martinstown, where he will be looked after like nothing else on earth – of which he deserves every bit of it.”

Dropped into handicap company for the Welsh Champion Hurdle in October, The New One produced probably the worst performance of his entire career. This followed an unsettling end to last season when only 12th in the Stayers’ Hurdle, trying three miles for the first time, and pulling up in the Aintree Hurdle – a Grade One race he had won back in 2014.

A byword for courage, soundness and reliability – functioning at the apex of hurdling for the past six seasons – The New One is very evidently cherished by the Twiston-Davies family.

“We want to take him to the track and see if he’s still got it,” said Sam, who’s ridden The New One on 34 of his 39 starts and to all bar two of his 20 career victories. “If he hasn’t, I imagine he’ll go off on his retirement. He’s been a wonderful horse – I love him to bits – and if he’s not enjoying it, we’ll make sure he has a five-star home for life.”

“It was so unlike him to be beaten that far,” added trainer Nigel, referring to the disappointment of Ffos Las. As a result, “hopefully to sharpen him up”, The New One will wear a visor at Cheltenham for the first time in 40 starts. I think we’ll all be rooting for him.

He faces an eclectic cast, potentially led by the Willie Mullins-trained mare Laurina who thumped all rivals by upwards of 18 lengths in last term’s Trull House Stud Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle over the same course and distance she’d face on Saturday.

Henderson has also entered Call Me Lord (whom he’s always maintained needs to go right-handed and therefore may wait until Ascot on Saturday week), the as-yet disappointing We Have A Dream and the gone-missing Brain Power, who is still yet to prove he can handle racing left-handed whether chasing or hurdling.

“Brain Power has been disappointing over fences as he works like a good horse,” Henderson said. “Michael [Buckley, his owner] said to try him back over hurdles in cheekpieces. So we are and Nico [de Boinville] will ride.”

Summerville Boy, last season’s Supreme winner and this column’s idea of a Champion Hurdle shout, could also pitch up at Cheltenham. Trainer Tom George reported that “nothing has come to light with all the tests he’s had” since disappointing in his Fighting Fifth comeback – which unnervingly suggests a lack of fitness is not considered to be the issue.

Returning to Henderson’s putative team for this March contest, Verdana Blue ran extremely well when second in a 12-furlong Listed event on the Flat at Kempton last week on just her second start in that discipline. Her trainer will continue to keep her away from deep winter ground, with the Champion Hurdle still stated as her target.

Finally, it grieves me to have to explain this – and apologies to the sane – but… when I refer to “the sainted Samcro” it’s you, the blind disciples, not him, the clearly talented (but not as good as Buveur D’Air) horse, whom I’m sending up. Just so we’re clear.

Sun Bets Stayers’ Hurdle

The only action worth noting in this division was provided by Scarpeta, formerly a steadily improving stayer on the Flat as a three-year-old for Mark Johnston and successfully converted into a decent novice hurdler by Willie Mullins last season.

He stayed the 2m5f trip thoroughly when an eight-length fourth to Samcro in last term’s Ballymore Hurdle at 33/1 and won by the same margin at short odds on his first spin over three miles in a Clonmel conditions hurdle last Thursday, despite a less-than-fluent round of jumping. He’s unexposed at this new trip.

“Scarpeta has a big engine and the sign of that was that he was still on the bridle turning in, despite some of his jumping,” said jockey Paul Townend. “He’ll come on for the run and he’s versatile.”

Entries have been published for Saturday week’s JLT Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot and they include the Harry Fry-trained trio of Unowhatimeanharry, If The Cap Fits and the mare Momella. Call Me Lord could make his belated reappearance for Nicky Henderson in the same race. Faugheen, Samcro, Apple’s Jade and Benie Des Dieux are the star entries from Ireland.

However, there are three highly intriguing names among the 21 engaged, all of whom would be switching from fences: Lil Rockerfeller, West Approach and (most of all) Top Notch.

Finally, in news from the sidelines trainer Gordon Elliott says Cracking Smart – a Grade One-winning novice hurdler and favourite for last season’s Albert Bartlett until injury ruled him out days beforehand – underwent an operation for a kissing spine and will be racing over hurdles this term.

OLBG Mares’ Hurdle

Much was once expected of Apple’s Shakira, a half-sister to Apple’s Jade, but she fluffed her big lines when refusing to settle in last term’s Triumph Hurdle and, fitted with a hood, ran even less auspiciously at Aintree. Nonetheless, presumably due to a dearth of viable alternatives, she held a relatively prominent position in this ante-post market over the summer.

Not now. Although she settled better than can be the case, she returned with a whimper at Sandown last Saturday despite being sent off the favourite in a Listed handicap hurdle that looked far from deep for the grade. She was beaten a long way out and ultimately pulled up. Last season’s leading juveniles really aren’t cutting it so far.

Novice chasers

It was accepted beforehand by everyone except Paul Nicholls that Lalor would confirm his Cheltenham superiority over the slightly more experienced Dynamite Dollars in the Grade One Henry VIII Novices’ Chase. Yet it was soon clear that all was not well with the 8/11 favourite.

With Irish raider Ornua very much up for taking the party to the headlong Diakali, the early pace at Sandown was strong for the conditions. Time analysis suggested the chase course was riding nearer soft at this stage of proceedings, although a downpour would shortly ensure that the going had turned heavy by the time of the Tingle Creek.

Having settled him in last originally (passing a rival only when never-a-factor Pingshou got in too close at the first and pecked badly on landing), Richard Johnson didn’t look happy on Lalor as early as passing the stands for the first time. A slow jump at the third in effect ended his prospects, even though he did plug on. Meanwhile, Dynamite Dollars and Highway One O One were happy to sit off the leaders in mid division.

Ornua had dispensed with the services of Diakali by the fourth and once he’d completed a set of Railway Fences and the field had taken closer order in his wake, only Dynamite Dollars remained on the bridle. And even that didn’t last long – Harry Cobden was giving his mount the hurry-up approaching the Pond Fence there they made a mistake under pressure at the second last.

But Sandown’s final hill is a long old upward grind and, even though Ornua got the cleaner jump at the last, Dynamite Dollars came away from the fence with the greater purpose and it was soon inevitable that Dylan Robinson’s mount would be worn down – even though he never ceased trying to the line.

Nicholls mentioned that when Dynamite Dollars was beaten by Lalor at Cheltenham, his horse appeared dull in his coat and hadn’t given his true running. After this Grade One success, the trainer also reflected that not enough use had been made of his jumping on that previous start and that the horse had, to his eyes, improved since.

“When a five-year-old is improving and on a roll they can end up anywhere,” Nicholls said. “This time last year you wouldn't have entertained running him in a Grade One against Lalor but physical improvement in horses from year to year can be astonishing. Dynamite Dollars is an exciting horse – a proper two-miler. He stays and jumps well.”

As well as citing next year’s Tingle Creek as the long-term target, Nicholls is inclined to head next to Kempton for the Grade Two Wayward Lad Chase

I don’t entirely buy the ground excuse for Lalor. It was officially soft ground when he produced his peak hurdling performance at Aintree in April, after all.” Trainer Kayley Woollacott cited “the same problem we had at Newbury” when the horse “couldn’t get into [the Betfair Hurdle] on the ground”. (It should be noted he’d also sat a shade too close to a strong pace on that occasion, although others did the same and fared much better.)

“I had been concerned about the ground and he does look a lot better on better ground but, having won a Grade One on soft before, we felt we had to take the chance,” reasoned Woollacott. “He also benefits from a lot of time between his runs, which we now have until his next race at Doncaster.”

I’ve might come to have more time for the freshness angle – three weeks elapsed between his last two starts – and it’s definitely worth endorsing her view that Lalor jumped well, bar for one slow leap, demonstrating a resilience of technique that will prove useful. “We were pleased that he had some experience jumping off the bridle and it was good that he jumped well when under pressure as he’ll need to do that later in the season,” she reflected in her Betway blog.

We’ll learn more in the Grade Two Lightning Novices’ Chase at the end of next month but in the meantime Lalor has been pushed out in the Arkle betting to 8/1 with Kalashnikov now the clear (at best) 4/1 favourite. Given that, for different reasons, I don’t fancy either Mengli Khan or Getabird – on whom, more later – I think that’s a reasonable price for a horse whose best form is, at my most negative interpretation, entirely comparable with that of the favourite.

Henry VIII Chase winner Dynamite Dollars is currently a long-looking 14/1 shot for Cheltenham – this success being in the right ball-park – and runner-up Ornua is best-priced at 25/1.

In his Racing UK column, jockey Ruby Walsh acknowledged that Lalor “didn’t perform” – albeit, like me, he was also not inclined to blame the ground – but added: “Going through Ornua, I’d say there are a couple of better novice chasers in Ireland… He’s a good-ground specialist and doesn’t handle the soft. He ran an absolute blinder for Henry de Bromhead but his level of form in Ireland is OK, not outstanding, and he’s a good bit off the top horses.”

Ornua looks like a speed-favouring bang two-miler, given his aggressive run style – usually not ideal for the Arkle. The twice he’d been beaten over fences in Ireland were when venturing beyond the minimum trip. This effort was right up there with his best form to date, so either he’s capable of even better on a sounder surface or he’s more versatile than Walsh (and connections) believes.

Getabird was shortened to an unattractively best-priced 12/1 after making a winning chase debut at Punchestown last Sunday. When he lined up, even as the 4/7 market leader, his reputation needed some rehabilitation.

Unbeaten under Rules at the time, he was sent off the 7/4 favourite for last term’s Supreme only to jump right throughout (as his running-out in a left-handed Point and hanging in a Gowran bumper had presaged) and fold tamely when overtaken after the second last.

After that, he won by a wide margin in a Fairyhouse Grade Two but failed to cut it twice (admittedly within four days) when returned to the highest level at the Punchestown Festival, even if there were excuses on paper for each occasion (struck into and badly hampered).

On the restoration trail, he raced against the inside rail on this right-handed track and jumped well alongside the eventual runner-up, Articulum. Walsh had asked his mount to be careful at the penultimate fence, meaning he took a little while to find his stride on landing, but he was pulling clear at the last where he drew an academic error from his closest pursuer.

It did not appear from this evidence that Getabird must dominate a field to give his true running, as some came to suggest last season, and Walsh subsequently testified that he “seems a more mature horse”. But there remains a doubt about whether he possesses the ability to take high rank and a greater likelihood that this may never be possible when racing left-handed.

Articulum was also making his chase debut and performed with great credit; he looks to have plenty of scope for improving over the larger obstacles. Back in third, Moon Over Germany was considerately handled for his first spin over fences, his first start for more than two years and on his debut for de Bromhead. But fourth-placed Mitchouka, whose family are all Flat horses, has now had three chase starts and isn’t progressing.

At Cork that same day, Camelia De Cotte won her fourth start over fences in convincing fashion for Mullins, coming home by six lengths (unchallenged for the lead from the first fence) and conceding 7lbs all round. Unlike her previous two starts, her propensity for a bad error was not on show here but she doesn’t strike me as the kind of mare who will be asked to transcend contests limited to her own gender. Therefore, I don’t see her as a Cheltenham candidate… unless she switched to the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle as some kind of super-sub.

In finishing 23 lengths adrift in fourth as the beaten favourite, having been the first to try to give chase to the winner, Forge Meadow did nothing for the worth of Mengli Khan’s Punchestown victory. Admittedly, this was a relatively quick reappearance for the mare but I’m sticking to my sceptical view of that form until shown otherwise.

Meanwhile Voix Du Reve’s form received a resounding collateral boost when Hardline – humbled by seven lengths at Punchestown last month – won a Navan Grade Three in utterly straightforward fashion last Saturday, coming home ten lengths clear himself.

It was a race staged at a good clip and that extracted a fair number of mistakes all round yet none from the efficient-jumping winner – in contrast to when he blundered six out (standing off too far) and was scruffy at the second last behind Voix Du Reve.

Hardline is definitely a better article over fences than he was over hurdles – and he’s only getting better. He might be a JLT candidate. Voix Du Reve is more of an Arkle type but just needs to curb his slightly headlong tendency; it’s also on my mind that he isn’t that scopey.

There was an unexpectedly deep novices’ chase at Exeter last Friday and it was won with some authority by a suddenly revived Defi Du Seuil. Two unexpected winners in these colours in seven days – JP McManus must be so pleased!

As things turned out, his main rival did his best to handicap himself by conceding at least 20 lengths at the start. My favourite camel-sized chaser Topofthegame shied as the tapes snapped back and was only moving sideways as the rest of the field made their way to the first. These were not opponents to trifle with, either, although a slow pace enabled Harry Cobden’s mount to steadily work his way back into contention.

The winner’s stablemate Westend Story made much of the running, tracked by Black Op and later joined by White Moon. None of that trio was entirely fluent in the early stages: Westend Story was scruffy and jumped left, Black Op was a shade sticky and White Moon stepped at the first and pecked badly, before a scrappy effort at the fourth.

All warmed to their task to some degree, however, and were jumping upsides in the back straight, the advantage swinging between them depending on which of them got the best jump at the preceding fence.

Behind them, Topofthegame had stealthily worked his way onto their heels by dint of the best round of jumping in the race. Defi Du Seuil was also travelling well, but kept losing ground at his fences against that rival – standing off too far at one and getting in too close at the next.

Turning for home, however, White Moon was already in trouble and cracked quickly at the top of the straight. Westend Story was the next to break, leaving Black Op in front at the third last with his two remaining rivals poised to challenge on either side.

Suddenly, the leader looked laboured – perhaps as a result of helping to press on too far out? – and wandered right two out, making it a bit of a squeeze for Topofthegame up the inside. Meanwhile, Defi Du Seuil sailed by on the outer to establish an unassailable advantage approaching the last. The other two stuck on at the one pace, with Topofthegame making it quite a remarkable second given what had gone down at the start and the likelihood that this trip was inadequate.

The winner would have been very much suited by the leaders taking each other on in the back straight, reminiscent as this victory was of his unbeaten juvenile season over hurdles. Rather than progressing into a Champion Hurdle prospect, he disappeared into the wilderness last term with just two dispiriting appearances. Last month’s chase debut behind Lalor and Dynamite Dollars, with its early naïve style of jumping, hadn’t heralded anything like this.

“I’m obviously over the moon to see Defi Du Seuil back towards his best,” admitted trainer Philip Hobbs, who implausibly tried to blame the low sun for the horse’s ungainly jumping at Cheltenham. “There’s probably still some improvement in his jumping and he could go for another novice before stepping up in grade.”

Hobbs had talked in terms of the Arkle at the end of this horse’s four-year-old campaign but this performance also shouted JLT.

Meanwhile, Topofthegame strikes me as a serious RSA Chase contender. If I can explain away the childish start – and, in an out-of-character moment, I’m going to – then we have a potential star stayer in the making here.

I’ve followed this horse from an early stage, ever since he presented at Ascot like an unfurnished dromedary aged four and even despite his abortive attempt at chasing last season – he’s a classic slow learner. You’d like to see him kept to galloping tracks while he’s learning his trade. Watch out Santini, you have a pursuer. You can’t miss him: he’s the massive camel-shaped thing.

Tom George was rightly “delighted” with Black Op, who did best of the prominently ridden horses. “We had to start somewhere and this will put him in good stead. He just got a bit tired after the second last,” he said. As demonstrated when second to Samcro in the Ballymore, this horse boasts a good attitude and can do well over fences, perhaps ending up in the JLT or RSA.

White Moon was the big let-down, returning to action after falling when unsighted at the final flight at Cheltenham last month when probably coming to win against Count Meribel. That form is working out well, with Le Breuil since performing creditably over a new trip at Newbury, Mr Whipped beating Springtown Lake in testing ground at Haydock and even straggler Jerrysback providing a 50/1 shock to all, including his rider, at Bangor earlier this month.

White Moon stopped very quickly here, as if something was amiss – worrying times for a highly regarded talent, about whom trainer Colin Tizzard has mentioned some physical fragilities.

Over at Huntingdon, Bags Groove is starting to deliver on the level of regard with which trainer Harry Fry has long held him. Once he’d induced an inferior rival to make a race-ending miscalculation at the second fence, he made the rest to win a competitive three-mile novices’ chase at Huntingdon by nine lengths, conceding weight all round.

His jumping was particularly good, measured and fluid, albeit he wasn’t really tested by having a comparable rival upsides, and he’s unexposed at the trip, too. He could head next for the Kauto Star Chase at Kempton over Christmas, provided the ground doesn’t get too soft, and is broadly 20/1 for the RSA Chase. But bear in mind he could miss the Festival in favour of Aintree.

Runner-up Thomas Campbell had previously won a novices’ chase at Ludlow, not needing anything like his best hurdles form, but never landed a single blow on the winner here. In fact, it was eventual third Red Rising who at least tried to make a race of it and may have paid for that effort against a far-superior winner late on. He’s improving within his own sphere.

Talking of stayers, Chris’s Dream made a good initial impression when winning on his chasing debut at Navan last Saturday. Having taken over on the lead from after the third fence, he was no more than faintly vulnerable when his chief pursuer Gun Digger – who’d had previous chase experience – closed him down approaching what turned out to be the last (the final fence being omitted due to damage). Shaken up, Chris’s Dream galloped resolutely to the line.

He has the pedigree of a thorough stayer and yet weakened markedly after the penultimate flight in last term’s Albert Bartlett, for which he was sent off at just 6/1 following a 64-length success in a Clonmel Grade Three on his debut for de Bromhead. It’s perfectly plausible that the Festival race came too early in his development, however.

This latest victory came when controlling the race from the front over 2m4f but in the style of a stayer – a view also held by his trainer – and he shapes like a decent recruit to the discipline. The curl of his knee suggests ground softer than good might always be important, however.

So far Donna’s Diamond hasn’t taken to fences in anything like the same vein as his form over hurdles. During last season’s banner campaign, he was good enough to lower the colours of Agrapart in the Grade Two Rendlesham Hurdle in February prior to being totally out-speeded in a funereal rendition of the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Festival.

He’d been tried once as a chaser a couple of seasons ago, unseating his rider, before reverting to hurdles and although he won on his third attempt over fences at Kelso last Sunday, he had to work hard to overhaul Castletown – a horse rated 44lbs inferior over hurdles, was a maiden chaser then with a career strike-rate of just 1 for 22 and who appeared not to stay the near-three-mile trip. Perhaps marathon handicap chases are what Donna’s Diamond needs?

Novice hurdlers

Tornado Flyer, one of the previous season’s clutch of leading bumper horses that Willie Mullins habitually trains, made a highly straightforward transition to hurdles last Sunday at Punchestown. This horse had won April’s Champion Bumper at that track, beating stablemates Blackbow and Carefully Selected, subsequent to finishing third behind stable companions Relegate and Carefully Selected in the Cheltenham Festival version.

Here, he raced keenly behind the leaders before easing out on the home turn, moving upsides long-time leader Take Revenge (who ran well, even if he had the absolute run of things) at the last and being driven clear for hands and heels. It was something of a processional affair with very little change to the racing order, though conducted at a sound enough pace to string out opponents of vastly varying ability.

Jockey Ruby Walsh described him as “a work in progress” in his Racing UK column. “He was a bit raw and gassy, and will have learned a lot... I think he’s a horse with a huge future and hopefully he can progress through the ranks,” he said.

Other notes to bear in mind on Tornado Flyer are that he jumped markedly left at the second hurdle, also adjusting in that direction on a number of occasions afterwards. There is – or perhaps was – also a difference of opinion, Geoffrey, between jockey and trainer on his preferred trip. Walsh deemed him a stayer, based on what he’d seen at home and last season, whereas Mullins said in his Racing Post stable tour “it could be that two miles will be his trip this season”.

Gigginstown ran two opponents in that maiden hurdle: third-placed Dream Conti, making his hurdling debut after winning his sole bumper start and who may want further, and a disappointing Cuneo, fifth in first-time cheekpieces. The latter’s dull effort did nothing for the form of Relegate, who was beaten by him at the same track on their hurdling debut although she did also suffer interference at the final hurdle at his hands.

Punchestown’s opening race on the same card was won by Gigginstown’s Due Reward, who’d previously shown improved form behind Star Maker in a novice handicap at the same track. In this two-mile event, he jumped soundly, albeit with the measured but airy technique of a future chaser, and was comfortably the best of this five-strong field.

He looks ready for a step up in grade but his action suggests deep winter ground would be a big negative. Perhaps bear him in mind for the County Hurdle, although his hurdling would need sharpening up.

Due Reward was chased home by JP McManus-owned stablemate Minella Times, his owner’s seeming number two in the race. He was second-best on the day by more than his margin over third-placed Count Simon suggests, due to having to manoeuvre around McManus’s weakening first string and Evens favourite, Ballyneety.

That horse was by far the least experienced in the line-up and travelled well until finding little once headed. Pecking and stumbling slightly at the second last plus a lack of fluency and an awkward landing at the final flight doesn’t explain this disappointment away.

Cork’s Sunday meeting saw a wide-margin success in testing ground for the Mullins-trained Come To Me on just his third racecourse outing and second over hurdles. Assistant trainer David Casey observed that the six-year-old was “still quite green through the race” and will have “learned plenty”.

The 17-length winning margin was not necessarily extended by the fall of Presented Well at the second last. After shadowing the leader on his heels and in the process of a career best, he’d emerged as the main chaser in the straight but was perhaps tiring in this relatively well-run affair when taking his tumble. He might not have finished that far (if at all) in front of actual runner-up Lighthouse Warrier, who jumped left.

Robin Des Carlow, the Mullins-trained favourite in the succeeding Grade Three stayers’ novices’ hurdle, looked as though she simply couldn’t function in ground that was heavy according to the clock. She held her head at an awkward angle from some way out and couldn’t get involved. Her steadily improving prior form was on a much sounder surface.

Instead, Derrinross – whose standout previous performance came when tried on testing ground over a staying trip – dominated the race from the front and galloping stoutly to the line after being briefly threatened approaching the third last. Trainer Philip Dempsey had been planning to send the winner chasing this season but admitted to a re-think following this dour success.

He said: “My father (Des) died a few weeks ago and it’s his horse. Luke [Dempsey, winning jockey] told him the week before he died that he’d win on him and maybe we had a little help from above…

“I was hopeful as we have never had such a run with him. He had bits of problems last year but we were very happy with the way he was moving this year… He has a little nick but it doesn’t look too serious and he could go for something like the three-mile graded novice hurdle at Limerick over Christmas.”

Progressive runner-up Sams Profile is only a four-year-old and shapes like a fair marathon chaser in the making.

Turning to Britain, the mare Alsa Mix won Sandown’s Grade Two 2m4f Winter Hurdle last Friday at a juncture when the jockeys had very much adapted their riding to the prevailing heavy going. In short, this was a race conducted at a crawl, with the field still bunched together turning for home, and yet conditions were still sufficiently testing to have strung them out by the line.

Hailing from the Alan King yard that boasts a good record in this race, Alsa Mix is now unbeaten in two hurdles, a bumper and a Point. “We thought we’d have a punt today with her allowance on conditions we thought would be up her street,” jockey Wayne Hutchinson said afterwards. “She’s a stayer and has outstayed them there.”

All of which sounded and looked as though the Festival’s Trull House Stud Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, with its emphasis on speed over 2m1f, will very much not be up her street although the Albert Bartlett could become an option.

Darlac, previously a winner at Fontwell but well held by Coolanly on a much sounder surface at Cheltenham, was the sole pursuer of the mare in the conditions, pulling ten lengths clear of the third but comfortably beaten himself.

The following day, I Can’t Explain won the opening National Hunt novices’ hurdle for trainer Nicky Henderson. Urged to take over the lead at the second last by Nico de Boinville, that was the race won. He shaped like a strong stayer who will shortly face further than two miles. At the line, there were five lengths between him and slightly gawky runner-up Phoenix Way, who had caught the eye in no uncertain terms at Bangor previously.

No doubt Henderson has a typically strong band of novice hurdlers, headed currently by the runaway Newbury winner Champ. We’ll learn more at Cheltenham this weekend.

At Huntingdon last Sunday, Irish point winner and £250,000 purchase Brewin’Upastorm made a highly encouraging hurdles debut. In two bumper starts for up-and-coming trainer Olly Murphy he’d won by a wide margin at Hereford from subsequent Aintree Grade Two winner Portrush Ted and was then comfortably held by subsequent Champion Bumper fourth Acey Milan in a Newbury Listed contest.

Here, he travelled strongly and largely jumped well before dispensing with Brecon Hill – who’d made the running, was conceding 6lbs and ran creditably – by four lengths. Flat recruit Winston C did best of those ridden patiently on his debut for Harry Fry; he stayed 14f on the Flat. I liked how the winner muscled between horses at the top of the straight; he’ll have learned plenty from this.

Juvenile hurdlers

It’s been a good week for owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede in a division in which we have come to expect them to be strong. First, Adjali won in their silks by a wide margin at Market Rasen last Thursday on his first start for Nicky Henderson and then Torpillo did the same at Sandown for trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies 24 hours later.

Adjali was the more experienced of the pair, having raced three times for Guillaume Macaire in France and already having got his head in front once. He jumped largely well, taking up the lead from an early stage and only drawing further clear to win by 13 lengths.

Winner of his sole French start, Torpillo opened his UK account by an even wider margin when sauntering 23 lengths ahead of his nearest pursuer. Although that disparity was doubtless exaggerated by some of his opponents floundering in heavy ground, it should be noted that he clocked a very good time comparatively. The Grade One Finale Hurdle is an obvious target for such a nascent high-class mudlark.

However, bloodstock agent and racing manager Anthony Bromley was drawn to compare the two juveniles after the latter’s success. “That was a little bit of a surprise,” he admitted. “I think Torpillo was a bit flattered as he coped with the ground better than the others.” He even suggested Adjali would currently be “the first choice” over Torpillo for Chepstow’s feature juvenile contest – a target confirmed by Henderson, who described him as “a very good horse”.

Adjali has already replaced stablemate Never Adapt as early ante-post favourite for the Triumph, that horse having been ruled out for the season after “picking up a leg injury” during her tearaway UK debut at Cheltenham. She’s already gone to owner JP McManus’s Martinstown Stud to have the healing hands placed upon her and won’t return until next term.

“As we all saw, she was much too free and must have damaged herself somewhere along the way,” Henderson explained in his Unibet blog (#ad) (Couldn’t resist.) “It is terribly frustrating as we had high hopes for her but she will be fine and, on the plus side, she can come back as a maiden next year and is still very young.”

At the same yard, McManus still has narrow Newcastle winner Style De Vole, who’d previously only raced once when winning a ten-furlong French maiden on the Flat. He had overcame some novicey jumps and palpable inexperience eventually to overhaul the lyrically named Oi The Clubb Oi’S earlier this month.

Interestingly, Henderson has since said that Style De Vole “blew for a good 20 minutes longer” than any other horse he ran that day. “So he obviously wasn’t as fit as I thought,” the trainer admitted. “He got very tired so can clearly be expected to strip fitter next time.”

There was a wide-margin winner of Aintree’s Listed mares’ juvenile hurdle – not for the first time – in the shape of Chica Buena. She’s now unbeaten in her last four starts, three of them since joining Keith Dalgleish, and won by 23 lengths, earning a revised rating of 132. That would already merit her a place in the Fred Winter, should connections choose that target.

On paper, in beating four previous winners, it appears her success was recorded in a more substantial renewal than many a year. However, both inexperienced favourite Giving Glances and hitherto top-rated Irish raider Smiling Eliza probably didn’t handle the testing ground.

In Cork’s opening contest last Sunday, Maze Runner scrambled home in something of a blanket finish; it was a race marked out by indifferent jumping across the board. The winner initiated a four-timer on the card for jockey Paul Townend, who reportedly told Willie Mullins’ assistant trainer David Casey that “the hurdles were big enough for him on that ground”.

Maze Runner frequently jumped out to his left on this right-handed track and got in too close to his hurdles, including at the last, which made for something of a staccato ending to an averagely run affair. He has plenty experience from the Flat, in which discipline he stayed at least 12 furlongs thoroughly and ended up wearing cheekpieces to victory on his final start.

Runner-up Union Gap has improved a smidgen for each start over hurdles but jumped scrappily and third-placed debutant Band Of Outlaws might well have triumphed had he been better positioned, nearer the controlling pace. No doubt connections were concerned about this ex-miler getting home. He’s rated a stone higher than the winner in that discipline; he also jumped left here. To underline the muddling nature of this form, the well-positioned 100/1 shot Colour Me In, who’d previously shown zero ability, finished a close-up fourth.

Selections:

• Recommended 28/11/18: Balko Des Flos e/w 40/1 [Skybet/Bet365] Gold Cup
• Recommended 29/11/18: Summerville Boy e/w 12/1 [various] Champion Hurdle
• Click here for 'Road To Cheltenham' archive

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