Mike Cattermole on Altior v Cyrname, Kerry Lee, two-mile chasers and the Goffs November Foal Sale

Is Kerry the leading lady now?

Kerry Lee used to work on the Channel 4 Racing team in the old Highflyer days when she produced the on-screen graphics. Her brother Tom Lee would sometimes appear on screen, specialising in the betting. When they weren’t doing that, they would help out their parents, Richard and Carol, back home at the stables.

Yes, the Lee siblings are a talented pair and since Kerry has taken over the training licence from her father just a few years ago, she has been doing rather well. It will come as no surprise to those that know her, I am sure.

Happy Diva’s win in the BetVictor Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Saturday was yet another big prize scooped up by this quiet but very effective trainer.

Already, Kerry had won the Welsh National, the Ryanair Gold Cup, the Grand National Trial at Haydock and Newbury’s Game Spirit Chase.

That’s quite a haul. Emma Lavelle has been doing well again this season and Paisley Park is already a superstar and Venetia Williams is about to hit top form again, but in the big chases, over the past three seasons or so, Kerry Lee is out on her own.

Defi pays compliment to Chacun

Defi Du Seuil is the star in Philip Hobbs’ stable and already a dual Cheltenham Festival winner, so it was good to see him return with a high-class performance in the Shloer Chase on Sunday.

Hobbs has spoken before about Defi being a very hard horse to get fit and the Somerset trainer was determined not to get caught out this time, getting plenty of work and even a racecourse gallop into him.

It certainly did the trick and the defeat of Politologue, last year’s Champion Chase runner-up, was a huge upgrade on his reappearance here a year ago when he was last of five in the Arkle Trial behind Lalor.

Paul Nicholls was encouraged by Politologue’s return, too, especially as he was giving away 3lb, and the rematch in the Tingle Creek at Sandown should be interesting. My paddock spies told me that both first and second would tighten up for the run.

But might they be fighting for place money at best on the Esher slopes?

There is no forgetting how Defi was put in his place by Chacun Pour Soi at Punchestown last April. It wasn’t as if Defi ran poorly as he pulled 16 lengths clear of Duc Des Genievres, but he was still just over four lengths behind Chacun, who must surely have the Sandown showpiece in his sights for Willie Mullins.

Perhaps Defi Du Seuil is capable of better than he showed at Punchestown (end-of-season results can be a touch misleading) but whichever way you look at it, these two are set for an intriguing rematch sometime soon.

And you would be a fool to discount Politologue, who won the Tingle Creek back in 2017 of course. With Altior stepping up in trip, the two-mile crown will be up for grabs.

Altior's toughest test?

Everybody has an opinion about this one and whichever way you are leaning, one thing is certain – the clash with Cyrname is going to put thousands on the gate at Ascot, and rightly so!

Some say this is going to be Altior’s toughest test yet. I have a funny feeling that he will pass it with flying colours.

The fact that he is stepping up some three furlongs more than he has ever gone before is a good thing isn’t it? He has been shaping as though he has wanted to go further for some time now.

Altior is an extraordinary horse who always tends to do enough. He has had a tendency to jump to his left, however, which may not be ideal at Ascot, and might be the one thing that compromises his chance.

Cyrname put up two mighty performances over the course and distance last season, especially in the Grade One Ascot Chase last February when five high-class chasers were left floundering.

Did they all run badly? It seems almost daft to suggest such a thing but who knows, was Cyrname perhaps flattered?

Certainly, it was fascinating to hear Brian Hughes’s comments to the Racing Post about 17-length runner-up Waiting Patiently who wasn’t giving him much of a feel in the closing stages, and “wasn’t striding out that well from the second last”.

We know that Waiting Patiently isn’t the soundest horse. Then there was Fox Norton in third, and Colin Tizzard’s horses were hardly in top form during that period.

Politologue in fourth is harder to weigh up and he then chased home Altior in the Champion Chase of course. However, Charbel was fifth and he has been suffering from back problems for a while, now. Aso in sixth? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Perhaps trying to be too forensic about what looked a stupendous performance that day is a mistake. On paper, it looks brilliant form.

Anyway, bring it on! The tactics look set with Cyrname bowling along in the lead and Altior travelling behind and waiting to pounce. And pounce and pick Cyrname off is what I believe he will do. Let’s hope they get round and run their races.

Alas, I won’t be there and shall be watching on from Huntingdon!

Goffs foal sale an eye-opener

I spent a couple of fascinating days at Goffs November Foal Sale this week when a full brother to Ghaiyyath (lot 745) was sold for 1.2 million euros on Wednesday and therefore became the highest priced colt foal to be sold at Goffs.

The son of Dubawi and Nightime, Galileo’s first Classic winner when she won the Irish 1,000 Guineas back in 2006 for Dermot Weld, was bred by the trainer himself and he was understandably very pleased, or in his words “satisfied”, with the outcome. I bet he was.

Like Ghaiyyath, who made 1.1 million euros as a foal in 2015, this laid-back dude of a colt will be joining Godolphin with Anthony Stroud taking the John Ferguson role of four years ago by signing for him.

Almost a thousand foals are being sold at Kill this week and practically every one of those that I saw was impeccably behaved. What a thing to go through at such a young age.

These babies are all just months old and some have only recently been weaned. They would have been walked or trotted up and down many times over with a lot of humans fussing around while feeling and patting them.

Some, like the top lot, were bought by end-users and others by pinhookers who will look after them for a year, hope they do well physically and hope their relatives do well on the track and then try and sell them for a good profit as yearlings this time next year.

What a business it is with lots of pitfalls along the way but you can “get lucky”. The story I liked most this week concerned Padraig and Siobhan O’Rahilly who were over the moon and, in Padraig’s case, stunned after selling lot 672, a No Nay Never colt, for 360,000 euros.

It was an amazing return for the couple who had bought the dam, Gems, for a mere 5,500 euros at Goffs February Sale back in 2013. The O’Rahillys are not “big players” in this business at all but they certainly hit the big time here and it was great to see.

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