John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Wednesday.
Useful mares meet in novices’ chase at Bangor
Bangor’s card features a couple of class 2 handicaps but it’s the Yorton Mares’ Novices’ Chase (13:30), a listed contest over 2m1f, that looks particularly interesting given that all six runners have shown a useful level of form in various disciplines. A couple of these have chasing experience already, with Finest View running up a hat-trick over the summer whereas useful hurdler All The Glory has been less convincing in her two runs over fences so far.
However, it’s those making their chasing debuts who look the ones to concentrate on. Wyenot is a likeable front-runner for Henry Daly, though with her listed win over hurdles at Doncaster last term coming over three miles, she’s likely to find this test on the sharp side. Ben Pauling’s Diva Luna also likes to race prominently, and as a Grade 2 bumper winner at Aintree and third in the Dawn Run at the Festival in March, she’s an interesting newcomer to fences.
The other pair of chasing debutants contested the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, though neither Joyeuse nor Queen’s Gamble proved competitive. Nicky Henderson’s Joyeuse won the William Hill Hurdle at Newbury, however, and looks the type to do well over fences but might need a well-run race to be seen to best advantage. Preference is therefore for Queen’s Gamble from the in-form yard of Harry Derham. Her hurdles form looks on a par with that of Joyeuse, and she ran well on her reappearance last season when runner-up in the Gerry Feilden at Newbury.
Chepstow form looking good for Horse In Focus Lundi Noir
Tom Lacey doesn’t send too many runners to Ayr from his Herefordshire base but it’s worth noting those who do make the trip as he’s been successful with three of his seven runners at the Scottish track in the last five seasons. They include a 10/1 winner on the Scottish Grand National card earlier this year. He looks to have good chances of another win there with Lundi Noir in the handicap hurdle over two and a half miles (14:20).
The four-year-old son of Doctor Dino has had just the two starts over hurdles and was the subject of notable confidence in the market when he made a winning debut at Market Rasen in February, jumping well and winning readily. It was eight months before he was seen out again when he shaped well in a handicap at Chepstow in October which attracted plenty of unexposed sorts in a field of sixteen. Winner Got A Dream also fell into that category, and Lundi Noir acquitted himself really well in third given his lack of experience, close up when jumping left at the last and finishing four lengths behind the winner.
Lundi Noir earned the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag for that effort, and the form has had some boosts in the meantime, with Got A Dream following up at Warwick and runner-up Dirty Den finishing a good second at Exeter. Open to further improvement, Lundi Noir also heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.
Chase debut for exciting Derryhassen Paddy
It will be a surprise if Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore don’t go home from Ayr with at least one winner on the card, with a lot of attention sure to be on the debut over fences of Derryhassen Paddy in the beginners’ chase (14:50).
The winner of his sole start in Irish points and then in a bumper at Ayr, Derryhassen Paddy took very well to hurdles last term, winning a maiden at Uttoxeter and a novice at Windsor on his first two starts. The Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham was therefore much his biggest test, but he progressed again despite having a hard race and earned the 'Horse In Focus' flag, up with the pace for a long way before winding up third behind the Irish pair Jasmin de Vaux and The Big Westerner.
However, it’s over fences that Derryhassen Paddy, a strong, chasing type, is expected to come into his own and he can start off with a win here, though there’s another interesting chasing debutant in the field in Sixmilebridge who was also last seen at the Festival and had won a Grade 2 novice hurdle at Cheltenham earlier last season.
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