17:35 Cheltenham

Saturday 24 October 2020

All14:0514:4015:1515:5016:2517:0017:35

Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Standard Open NH Flat Race (GBB Race)

Off time: 17:35 | Winning time: 3m 58.09s

Animal²⁴¹

Age: 4| Weight: 11-4| J: M G Nolan| T: Miss S Smith

20/1

Made winning debut in 9-runner bumper (10/1) at Market Rasen (16.6f, soft) 8 months ago, showing good turn of foot and well on top at finish. This demands a lot more but he's not to be underestimated.

Form: 1-

Image of Stars that are filled with the colour gold

Major Robinson²¹⁷

Age: 4| Weight: 11-4| J: T Scudamore| T: D Pipe| D

9/1

13/2, overcame greenness to land 15-runner bumper at Thurles (15.4f, soft) on NH debut 7 months ago when with Stuart Crawford. Open to fair bit of improvement for new yard so greatly respected.

Form: 1-

Masteroftheheights⁴²

Age: 4| Weight: 11-4| J: P J Brennan| T: M F Harris

33/1

25/1, made winning bow in 8-runner bumper at Fontwell (17.7f, good to firm) 42 days ago by head from Shantou's Melody. Has more to offer but this is a much deeper contest.

Form: 1

Smurphy Enki²³³

Age: 5| Weight: 11-4| J: Tom Cannon| T: C Gordon

10/3

Place in points and looked smart recruit when wide-margin winner of 12-runner bumper (14/1) at Wincanton (15.3f, heavy) 7 months ago. Sure to build on that so holds good claims.

Form: 7/3421-

Tile Tapper²⁹⁷

Age: 6| Weight: 11-4| J: Bryan Carver| T: C Honour

9/1

16/1, built on debut promise when taking 10-runner bumper at Exeter (16.8f, heavy) 9 months ago for Jimmy Frost. This demands fair bit more though so needs to hit the ground running for new yard.

Form: 3/41-

Calidad

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: D A Jacob| T: H Whittington

11/2

€45,000 3-y-o, Califet gelding. Half-brother to fairly useful hurdler/smart chaser Drop Out Joe. Dam, 2¼m chase winner in France. Appeals on paper so respected but this is no easy introduction.

Form:

Don Alvaro

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: R Johnson| T: P Hobbs & J White

50/1

Muhtathir gelding. Half-brother to 3 winners, including useful hurdler Papagana and fair hurdler News Reel. Appealing pedigree and in excellent hands so one for shortlist and worth market check.

Form:

Fearless Fracas^t1⁷¹³

Age: 6| Weight: 11-0| J: J J Burke| T: T R GeorgeWS

22/1

£175,000 4-y-o, Fracas gelding. Dam fair 2m hurdle winner. Wears tongue strap.With good yard so another newcomer who is worth considering. Market can guide.

Form: PF1/

Grand Lord²⁵⁹

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: C Gethings| T: S Edmunds

14/1

Ex-French gelding who (20/1) showed promise when sixth of 9 to Ocean Wind in listed bumper at Newbury (16.3f, good) 8 months ago. Needs another step forward here however.

Form: 36-

I Am Maximus

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: N de Boinville| T: N J Henderson

4/1

Authorized gelding. Half-brother to 4 Flat winners, notably 14f Pointel. Dam 1m winner. Yard won this 12 months ago so he's one to take seriously on debut and well worth monitoring in betting.

Form:

Jack's A Legend⁵⁰³

Age: 5| Weight: 11-0| J: T J O'Brien| T: A E Jones

25/1

Promising third of 12 in bumper (6/1) at Perth (16.2f, good to soft) on NH debut 16 months ago but off the track since. Fitness is clearly a concern on comeback now.

Form: 3-

My Drogo

Age: 5| Weight: 11-0| J: Harry Skelton| T: D Skelton

50/1

Milan gelding. Closely related to fairly useful hurdler My Dance. Lots to like on pedigree and with leading yard so newcomer is worth a second look.

Form:

Seymour Promise²⁶⁰

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: R M Power| T: C L Tizzard

33/1

12/1, shaped encouragingly when fourth of 9 in bumper at Kempton (16f, good to soft) on NH debut 8 months ago. Son of Flemensfirth is sure to do better.

Form: 4-

Shantou's Melody⁴²

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: Jonjo O'Neill Jr.| T: J & A O'Neill

15/2

11/4, showed up really well when head second of 8 to Masteroftheheights in bumper at Fontwell (17.7f, good to firm) on debut 42 days ago. Capable of fair bit more progress so must enter calculations.

Form: 2

Non-Runners

Restandbethankful⁴⁷

Weight: 11-4| Age: 4

T: O Murphy J: Adrian Heskin

Forecasts

Smurphy Enki (10/3), I Am Maximus (4/1), Calidad (11/2), Shantou's Melody (15/2), Restandbethankful (8/1), Tile Tapper (9/1), Major Robinson (9/1), Grand Lord (14/1), Animal (20/1), Fearless Fracas (22/1), Jack's A Legend (25/1), Masteroftheheights (33/1), Seymour Promise (33/1), My Drogo (50/1), Don Alvaro (50/1)

SMURPHY ENKI spreadeageld his field when making a sparkling winning bumper debut at Wincanton so is taken to make a winning return in this much tougher contest for the excellent Chris Gordon team. Nicky Henderson landed this contest 12 months ago and his well-bred newcomer I Am Maximus is feared most, although debut bumper scorers Restandbethankful and Major Robinson are also greatly respected.