WITH just under nine weeks to go until the Cheltenham Festival we are starting to make plans as to who and what goes where for their last runs before March and I’m pleased to report that Buveur D’Air is coming along extremely well and had an ‘away day’ on Wednesday and I have got to say he was absolutely amazing. To start with he jumped five hurdles at home which was the first time he’d left the ground since the Fighting Fifth Hurdle in 2019 and he certainly hasn’t forgotten anything; he was brilliant! His recovery has been nothing short of remarkable and great credit should be given to all the team at Martinstown including John O’Brien and Ger Kelly who did such a good job putting his foot back together, literally. He was still lame (on a hard surface) when he came back to us in September but the foot continued to grow and is now fully recovered. He only ever goes on the grass and has never, ever, ever set foot on an artificial gallop at all since he’s been back; he doesn’t even come into the indoor school. Because of what happened, within reason, you could say that the sole of the foot has sort of callopsed to a very tiny degree and therefore it’s too close to the ground and the sand can compact into the sole whereas if you’re on the grass it doesn’t, it really is a very big difference, so every single day Hannah (Ryan) takes him all over the place and we are lucky to have acres of natural greenery to exercise him on.
D'AIR TO DREAM
Flashback to Tuesday, and *that* epic battle between Buveur d'Air and Melon in the @unibet Champion Hurdle #TheFestival pic.twitter.com/HxE8Sjo16k
— CheltenhamRacecourse (@CheltenhamRaces) March 17, 2018
I’ve always sort of thought we were ahead of schedule so the time came to give him a serious gallop and after schooling over our hurdles at home we went off elsewhere and jumped seven hurdles over a mile with two lead horses, then one dropped out and another one joined in and they worked together on the flat for another mile where they quickened and quickened and I have to say it was unreal, he didn’t half quicken up to the end! It was wonderful to watch because it’s been some journey to get him back bearing in mind we were even questioning if he’d ever be able to race again, but he has made fantastic progress, so much so, that I have decided he’s ready to go and I’m very much thinking about running him in The New One Unibet Hurdle at Haydock next Saturday (23rd January). Nico was on board on Wednesday and has done plenty of schooling on him over the years so he will ride him at Haydock because Aidan will be aboard Epatante in the Unibet Champion Hurdle therefore it makes plenty of sense to do it this way.
Unfortunately I can offer absolutely no explanation for Glynn who pulled up very quickly in the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton last Saturday. He travelled so well and looked the winner throughout the whole race but for some unknown reason he completely stopped like he’d been shot and I thought straight away that he’d either bled, suffered a leg injury or made a noise but he has been checked all the way over and is absolutely fine so I have no reason for the effort. It is a real conundrum but unfortunately I cannot fathom it out. I’ve never seen a horse stop as quickly as that so I have no idea what happened; maybe something will turn up but we have found absolutely nothing to explain it.
Epatante is doing very well and the intention is still very much to go straight to Cheltenham. We checked her out fully after the Christmas Hurdle and nothing came to light but there was just something not quite right about her coming out of the paddock and JP said to me straight after the race that he didn’t think she was herself along the walkway going out to the track so I’ve watched the replay and he was quite right; she wasn’t her usual self and was shaking about and throwing her head around doing all sorts of things she doesn’t normally do, so that may explain a few things. She is perfectly fine and training well and I’m looking forward to Cheltenham in March.
Champ will have an ‘away day’ somewhere this week because I want him to jump some fences and go two and a half miles. He’ll jump about seven fences over a mile and then work on the flat for the remaining mile and a half all in one go. I’m not sure I really want to go to Cheltenham first time out because that will be tough and I think Newbury is a nice place to start so at the moment it would seem likely that he’ll return in the Denman Chase but it does all hinge on what happens next week. It’s not ideal because it is quite close to Cheltenham for his first run of the season and they often take a bit of time to get over their initial outings but options are running out.
Santini is on course for the Cotswold Chase and worked well in the week. He ran a very good race in the King George on a track that didn’t suit and the stiffer course at Prestbury Park is right up his street so it makes sense to got here with him.
Fusil Raffles is having a bit of a break and will be back out in the spring and I’m struggling to find anything suitable for Mister Fisher. I would like to run him in a 2m4f Chase or even over three miles if necessary but he’s a lovely horse who doesn’t want to it like a bog so we’ll see what the weather does and what options there are. I’d like to try and find something around Festival Trials day but there’s just nothing there. Indeed apart from the Cotswold Chase and the Juvenile race it doesn’t really bare any resemblance to Cheltenham Trials whatsoever.
Allart will head up to Haydock next Saturday with Buveur D’air and run in the Novices’ Chase, while fellow novice Shishkin has the option of the Kingmaker at Warwick on 13th February where, it isn’t a problem if we bump into Allmankind, or the Lightning Novices’ Chase at Doncaster on 30th January.
Gran Luna is back in full work and I shall be looking for a race very soon for her before heading to Cheltenham and it’s a similar story with Heross Du Seuil and Goodbye Stranger who will both need another outing somewhere.
Dickie Diver unfortunately scoped dirty so had to sit this weekend out which is very frustrating because I’d liked to have run him because the main target is the National Hunt Chase.
Altior will go to Newbury on February 13th to contest the Game Spirit and is in very good form so I’m really looking forward to getting him out again. I Am Maximus is a proper horse and will run in the Listed Bumper on the same day as Mister Coffey and Buzz fight out the finish to the Betfair Hurdle!
Runners next week include Dame De Compagnie who makes her Chase debut up at Ayr, and at Newbury on Wednesday Gallyhill runs in the Novice Hurdle and Hamilton’s Fantasy in the Mares’ National Hunt Novices Hurdle over 2m5f which will really suit her. She’s improved a lot since her excellent bumper run at Ascot. Flinteur Sacre worked very well under Nico this morning and was very relaxed which is what we’ve been trying to do and he’ll be out within the next ten days.
MARKET RASEN – SATURDAY
12:20 Handicap Chase
Haul Away (Nico de Boinville)
We’ve tinkered with his wind since his last run and he resumes here off what looks a decent mark. Ideally he’d prefer better ground and he really doesn’t want it soft at all to be honest but it’s the first race of the day so he should at least get the best of it and he brings some pretty decent hurdles form to the table. Nico schooled him in the week and was very happy so he goes there with a decent chance.
2:40 Hurdle
On The Blind Side (Nico de Boinville)
It’s rare for me to back a horse up after just one week but he’s in such good form at home and has come out of the Relkeel Hurdle really well so we thought we might as well get him out again. This is a new race and in hindsight I probably shouldn’t have run him last week and saved him for this but we weren’t sure what was going on with the ground and if indeed racing was going to stop again which is why he went to Kempton. He does have a 4lbs penalty to carry but the step back up to 3m will be ideal and he seems to be in a rich vein of form at present.
