Lydia Hislop Road To Cheltenham Novice Hurdlers

Kim Bailey has a couple of smart novice hurdlers this season and both were in action last Saturday. First Flow, who'd impressed clock-watchers when winning at Newbury on his debut, won the Grade Two Sky Bet Supreme Trial Rossington Main at Haydock in good style but reportedly will not run at Cheltenham.

It was surprising to hear jockey David Bass confess afterwards that it had taken a lot of work to get First Flow to jump – "he wasn't great initially" – because on Saturday he was quick across his obstacles, especially when pressing his advantage three out.

Bass also said he had been worried his mount was doing too much early and that did tell late on when the horse made a tired guess at the last - but the race had been won long ago by then.

On Racing UK's Luck On Sunday, Bailey described First Flow as "an angular, thin and narrow horse with lots of guts" and you can clearly see what he means about this six-year-old's frame from TV pictures.

He added that he's more likely to rough the horse off for the season than participate in the Festival because he believes soft ground is a prerequisite. From his other post-race comments, Bass would clearly endorse this plan and both men clearly deem this horse, unbeaten now in three starts over hurdles, as a talent worth nurturing.

Donald McCain had won this race in the past with subsequent Supreme winner Cinders And Ashes but had to settle for fourth with Waterlord. That horse had led early on but was increasingly out-jumped by First Flow as the race warmed up.

He finished tired, having tried to put up a fight with the winner, and undeservingly lost two places late on. His breeding suggests he's worth a spin in good company on a sound surface, perhaps at Aintree.

Returning to Bailey, his other leading novice Vinndication got the better of promising hurdles debutant Champ in a good scrap for Ascot’s final event, also on Saturday.

The winner is unbeaten in three starts, two over hurdles, and showed great tenacity here to get back up near the line after sacrificing the lead with a less-than-fluent jump two out. He'd travelled strongly in the race and was conceding 6lbs to a decent rival, albeit he did have the advantage of experience.

Strikingly, given First Flow had won a Grade Two the same day and Charbel was none too shabby as a novice hurdler a couple of seasons ago, Bailey asserted that Vinndication "could be as good a novice as I've had in a while".

Although a horse deemed "very immature mentally" probably shouldn't head to Cheltenham, his trainer wasn't going to "close any doors" on imminent plans.

Champ is arrestingly named, given that's the moniker often applied to Sir Tony McCoy and this horse is in the ownership of his former retainer, JP McManus. He may just have lacked the race craft to quell Vinndication, with rider Aidan Coleman appearing to have been under instruction not to be too hard on a horse having his first start for almost a year and only his third overall. You can expect him to do better.

Henderson, his trainer, had earlier that week given an update on two of his other notable novice hurdlers in an interview with the Guardian – just joking: it was in his Unibet blog.

That blog - on which the newlywed trainer presumably had the banns read a few weeks ago - also contained the latest example of the trainer's perceived strong-arm tactics performed by the Amorphous Official Handicapper.

"In my opinion, it was a very humble race so the winning margin shouldn’t be taken too literally," Henderson asserted of Chef Des Obeaux's 19-length success. "He's been whacked up 16lbs in the weights which has almost forced us into going towards the Albert Bartlett.

"If you'd have said that race was on the cards at the beginning of the season, I'd be looking for the men in white coats to take you away. But he's won his last two and could quite possibly head straight to Cheltenham. He doesn’t need to learn any more."

Chef Des Obeaux shaped like a sturdy galloper but has only ever raced on soft ground and lacks the hard-bitten profile I have come to favour – through harsh experience – for the Potato Race.

At the time of writing his blog, Henderson was also looking forward to running stablemate Santini - the horse who beat Chef Des Obeaux by four-and-a-half lengths on their mutual hurdling debuts at Newbury last month - in Vinndication’s race at Ascot. But come the day he withdrew the horse because the rain had turned the ground to heavy by the final race.

Henderson also blogged that he was "extremely pleased" with the performance of Mr Whipped at Warwick but undecided about his Cheltenham target due to the presence of stablemate On The Blind Side in the Ballymore.

"He is a horse that is growing on me a lot," he said. "He’s quite laid back and doesn't do an awful lot when he hits the front but manages to get the job done, which I suppose is the main thing... He's taken the race very well and it's very likely that he'll also go direct to Cheltenham."

Meanwhile Warren Greatrex gave an update on his leading novices on Racing UK last Saturday. Western Ryder probably heads to the Sidney Banks next month at Huntingdon and Mulcahys Hill could be bound for Ireland as one of the too-scarce British-trained horses entered at Leopardstown's Dublin Festival. If lining up in that 2m6f Grade One, he could encounter the sainted Samcro.

Over in Ireland in the past week, Dortmund Park gave an impressive display of stamina when splashing through mud and standing water to win a Thurles novices' hurdle by 16 lengths last Sunday. This was a big step up on his previous form but there was no fluke and plenty to like about the verve with which he jumped into the lead at the second last. He's an Albert Bartlett type.

Back in fourth, Beyond The Law was disappointing in ground that should have suited so perhaps this race came too soon after his wide-margin Clonmel success earlier this month.

Articulum was the beaten favourite but ran dully before being pulled up on his first start since last November’s impressive Cork success. Perhaps there has been a problem?

Finally, returning to Britain, ex-pointer Scorpion Sid made a debut worth noting when coming clear by 15 lengths on his Rules debut at Chepstow last week. Described as "a big brute of a horse" by jockey Gavin Sheehan, he is an exciting prospect for trainer Jamie Snowden.