Mark Howard picks out five beaten horses from the Cheltenham Festival who are well worth adding to the notebook.
Aintree tempting for Skeltons?
BOSSMAN JACK is a young horse with a bright future.
The well-bred Jack Hobbs gelding, who is related to Grade 2 winner Gidleigh Park, has been given plenty of time to mature winning run of the mill novice events at Ffos Las and Chepstow before being thrown in at the deep end in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle on Wednesday.
Rated 134 beforehand and lacking experience, he ran a terrific race in sixth and would have been even closer bar a mistake at the last.
Ridden with the future in mind, he was in rear early on before making ground on the outside coming down the hill. Challenging for third when hitting the final flight, he was still only beaten around four lengths behind King Rasko Grey.
While his future lies over fences next Autumn, one wonders whether he will be steered towards the £75,000 handicap hurdle over two and a half miles at Aintree (April 10) – Skelton won it with Langer Dan (off 137 in 2022) and Kateira (rated 136 in 2024) in recent years.
