15:05 Doncaster

Friday 25 January 2019

All12:5013:2513:5514:3015:0515:3516:05

First Race Special On Sky Bet Tomorrow Novices' Hurdle

Off time: 15:06 | Winning time: 4m 0.91s

Constancio¹³

Age: 6| Weight: 0-0| J: B S Hughes| T: D McCain Jnr| OR: 120

5/2

85-rated on the Flat and has shown a reasonable level of form over hurdles so far in finishing runner-up on all three timber starts; beaten 1½L by Doctor Dex under similar conditions at Wetherby 13-days ago.

Form: /222

Northern Bound⁶⁰

Age: 11| Weight: 0-0| J: Unknown| T: B Pauling

Form: 291

Magellan¹⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 0-0| J: Sean Quinlan| T: P A Kirby

17/2

Bought for 58,000gns in October 2018 (ex-Roger Charlton); weakened from the second last when finishing 17¼L fourth to Diamond Gait on hurdles debut over C&D (good) earlier this month; potential for better.

Form: /4

Cilaos Glace³⁰

Age: 12| Weight: 0-0| J: Unknown| T: O Sherwood| OR: 115

Form: 0-476

Near Kettering¹²

Age: 5| Weight: 0-0| J: Jonathan England| T: S England

200/1

Bought for €30,000 from Johnny Murtagh in November 2018; 0-3 for this trainer so far, again showing precious few positive signs when left toiling at Kelso (2m, good) recently; no chance.

Form: /80

Saryshagann³⁶

Age: 6| Weight: 0-0| J: R Johnson| T: D O'Meara

8/1

81-rated on the Flat and was a winner over 1m3f at Kempton in November; Champion Jockey Richard Johnson a notable booking for a trainer who has saddled only 36 runners (five winners) under NH rules over the past five seasons.

Form: /-

Global Anchor⁵⁵

Age: 11| Weight: 0-0| J: Unknown| T: J & A O'Neill

Form: 360

The Eagle's Nest^t⁵⁰

Age: 5| Weight: 0-0| J: Nick Scholfield| T: Rae Guest| BF

50/1

Both Flat wins (from 20 starts) came on the AW. In fair form off a mark in the early 70's in that sphere when last spotted in November. Market may be the best steer now tackling jumps for the first time.

Form: /-

Irish Odyssey²⁸⁵

Age: 12| Weight: 0-0| J: Unknown| T: N P Mulholland

Form: 18-

The Grand Visir^t1⁴⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 0-0| J: R T Dunne| T: Ian Williams| C

2/1

By far the best of these on the Flat (sold for 170,000gns in October 2018); looked wayward on hurdles debut at Aintree in December when veering left and unseating his rider at the first flight; tongue-tie now applied.

Form: /U

King's Coinage²⁰

Age: 11| Weight: 0-0| J: Unknown| T: S England

Form: /8

Groveman¹⁵

Age: 4| Weight: 0-0| J: Joe Colliver| T: Jedd O'Keeffe

11/4

Left Charles Hills for 45,000gns in October 2018 and made his second start for this trainer a winning one when staying on from an unpromising position to score on hurdles debut at Catterick (2m, good) 15-days ago; chance.

Form: /1

Our Bubba⁷⁹

Age: 11| Weight: 0-0| J: Unknown| T: S Edmunds

Form: 43-19

Petitioner⁹⁷

Age: 11| Weight: 0-0| J: Henry Brooke| T: J J Davies

Form: /-

Best Not Argue¹⁵

Age: 13| Weight: 0-0| J: Unknown| T: J P O'Brien

Form: /8

Vocal Heir⁹⁷

Age: 13| Weight: 0-0| J: Unknown| T: O Murphy| OR: 92

Form: 054793

Forecasts

The Grand Visir (2/1), Constancio (5/2), Groveman (11/4), Saryshagann (8/1), Magellan (17/2), The Eagle's Nest (50/1), Near Kettering (200/1)

Plenty of those declared hold a realistic chance including the risky The Grand Visir (on Flat form) assuming that he's a fair degree wiser about jumping eight flights of hurdles than was the case on debut at Aintree last month. Saryshagann is a noteworthy jumps runner for David O'Meara with the Champion Jockey Richard Johnson booked, whilst Constancio has already proved himself under similar conditions over hurdles. However, in an open race we'll chance that GROVEMAN is far better suited by Doncaster than was the case around the incredibly sharp Catterick where he was still strong enough to make a winning hurdles debut, which does offer plenty of encouragement.