Matt Brocklebank highlights a trio of trainers it has paid to follow in recent years at Chepstow's early-season fixture and picks out a few horses of note entered this week.
You’ll hear it at the first Cheltenham meeting of the season – The Showcase – on Friday October 22, and no doubt you’ll still be hearing again it the following weekend as Wetherby stages its Charlie Hall Chase fixture, but the ‘National Hunt season proper’ begins at Chepstow this Friday.
The clue is not only in the title though – the Unibet Jump Season Opener – with a quality entry and a huge amount to look forward to.
The Grade Two Persian War Novices' Hurdle, a potentially red-hot Listed novices' chase over two and a half miles and the Grade Three Wasdell Group Silver Trophy Handicap Hurdle are the standout races across the two-day programme, but which trainers should punters be following this time of year, and who does particularly well at Chepstow's early fixtures?
Lacey aces on the radar
Tom Lacey hasn't sent out as many runners during August and September as he has in previous seasons, but it was encouraging to see Argonauta's victory at Huntingdon on Tuesday get the trainer off the mark at the fourth time of asking for the current month and while hardly a significant enough sample size to draw any firm conclusions, he's got a tidy 3-12 strike-rate at Chepstow during the month of October since starting out.
Those winners include well-backed 7/2 favourite Tea Clipper in last year's Silver Trophy and Lacey has entered another interesting five-year-old this time in Glory And Honour. He mixed bumpers and novice hurdling to good effect last season and was last seen finishing third as the 5/4 favourite running off his current mark of 129 at Newton Abbot in April.
Appearing to have that race in safe keeping before weakening rapidly, the subsequent layoff suggests not all was right with him there and he looks well worth another chance given he's still totally unexposed beyond two miles.
Tea Clipper is back for more Chepstow success in Saturday's Dunraven Windows Novices' Chase - his intended fencing debut - and Lacey also has Marty Time in the concluding bumper, a race he won with Kateson in 2017.
Express train on a real roll for Mulholland
It’s only about an hour from Neil Mulholland’s base in Limpley Stoke to Chepstow so his good record at the track shouldn’t come as a huge surprise.
Stable stalwart Soupy Soups is more alphabet soup these days given the letters dominating his form string but he's declared for Friday's veterans' handicap chase, along with Cesar Et Rosalie and Fingerontheswitch - returning after a breathing op - also lining up for the yard on the same card.
Mulholland's main chance, however, looks to be in Saturday's Native River Handicap Chase as Exelerator Express bids to maintain his remarkable progression. The seven-year-old went from a mark of 119 to 138 in double-quick time earlier in the year and now has a glossy new OR of 147 after kicking the previous figure into touch with a 12-length victory at Worcester in mid-August.
Clearly the horse now goes into the deep end but he looks well equipped to cope with the rise in grade now he's proven at this two mile, seven furlong trip. He seems to travel seriously well no matter the underfoot conditions and evidently gets on sweetly with Sam Twiston-Davies.
Nicholls still number one in early scrimmages
It can often pay to try and highlight some of the lesser-spotted negative statistics when it comes to trying to get an edge when betting on races involving horses from Ditcheat, but Paul Nicholls' 33% strike-rate at Chepstow during October - from 75 runners all told - is pretty hard to ignore.
The eleven-times champion trainer is not going to have many going under the radar at the Jump Season Opener - conversely the likes of Persian War contender Paso Doble and Saturday's juvenile Magistrato are more likely to be largely priced up on talk, rather than evidence from the track.
Bravemansgame has placed himself well beyond 'talking horse' status now but whatever he does on chasing debut - this weekend or elsewhere at a later date - is bound to get chins wagging, as is Nicholls' new link-up with Kate and Andrew Brooks, whose switch of allegiance from Harry Whittington included a move for the promising Dargiannini.
One Nicholls runners who might not be favourite but must not be missed is Flic Ou Voyou in Saturday's Geoffrey Broomhall Memorial Handicap Hurdle.
He bolted up by 23 lengths at this meeting last year (FREE video below) when reappearing as a second-season novice, and his profile tells you that isn't the only time he's gone really well when fresh.
He also doesn't seem to like the worst of the winter ground so a relatively kind forecast looks a massive plus for him this week.
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Despite failing to add to his tally after rattling off an early-season hat-trick last autumn, Timeform rated Flic Ou Voyou's second behind Herbiers (to whom he was conceding 18lb) at Sandown when last seen a a new career-best, and it would be bordering on madness to assume we've now seen the best of him as he's still only seven.
Fences will no doubt be on the agenda before long but that can wait while he's still rated in the 130s, and a really positive ride around Chepstow first time out looks absolutely made for him.
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