Weatherbys General Stud Book 'Introductory' Juvenile Hurdle

Off time: 11:51 | Winning time: 4m 2.0s

Oi The Clubb Oi's²⁷

Age: 3| Weight: 10-12| J: W T Kennedy| T: Ian Williams

11/4

Winner of a 1m2f Class 5 handicap at Nottingham in July (good to firm), but made just the sole start on the Flat thereafter; never any threat to the winner Katpoli on hurdles debut at Huntingdon (2m, good); stablemate of Swordbill.

Form: 2

Style De Vole^h1¹⁵⁹

Age: 3| Weight: 10-12| J: B J Geraghty| T: N J Henderson

2/5

Changed hands after winning a 1m2f 3yo maiden for Yannick Fouin at Saint-Cloud in June (good to soft); half-brother to the useful 2m-2m1f jump winner Style Du Garde; trainer won this race in 2016 with Domperignon Du Lys; likely type.

Form:

Swordbill^p³⁶

Age: 3| Weight: 10-12| J: Henry Brooke| T: Ian Williams| D

10/1

Found significant improvement on the Flat for a switch to AW (also with cheekpieces), winning three of his four starts (1m5f-2m) in a ten-day period in September; interesting to see how adapts to a hurdling career; stablemate of Oi The Clubb Oi's.

Form:

Tommy Shelby¹³¹

Age: 3| Weight: 10-12| J: Sean Quinlan| T: F P Murtagh

150/1

11-race Flat maiden (60-rated); left the care of Richard Fahey for £5,000 in August; faces a tough introduction to hurdling against some fairly promising types, so isn't expected to be overly competitive as a result.

Form:

Dance Avenue^t²⁷

Age: 3| Weight: 10-5| J: Blair Campbell| T: Miss Lucinda V Russell

80/1

Cost 22,000gns at the Newmarket Sale in July 2017; Champs Elysees filly who is a sister to a couple of winners, namely Exoteric (1m1f-1m3f) and Fray (7f-1m); started 33/1 and finished last of 13 on debut in a 1m6f Carlisle bumper (good).

Form: 0

Last Enchantment⁶³

Age: 3| Weight: 10-5| J: J J Burke| T: N P Mulholland

25/1

73-rated Flat handicapper for Eve Johnson-Houghton (soft-ground winner over 1m at Nottingham in May); had wind surgery mid-summer; now switched to Neil Mulholland for a hurdles campaign.

Form:

Forecasts

Style De Vole (2/5), Oi The Clubb Oi's (11/4), Swordbill (10/1), Last Enchantment (25/1), Dance Avenue (80/1), Tommy Shelby (150/1)

Nicky Henderson saddled the winner of this race in 2016 with Domperignon Du Lys, so it's difficult to look beyond this season’s French recruit STYLE DE VOLE in a race which would appear to be lacking in depth. This half-brother to the useful 2m-2m1f winner Style Du Garde wears the hood on debut for JP McManus and is preferred to the pick of the Ian Williams-trained duo Oi The Clubb Oi's.