WEATHERBYS are delighted to sponsor two of this afternoon’s races, starting with the Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide EBF “National Hunt” Novices’ Hurdle.
Just six horses go to post, with Cool Jet on somewhat of a recovery mission, following his disappointing effort on stable debut at Newcastle. He burst a blood vessel that day, but contested the Weatherbys Champion Bumper last March (pictured), having won at Thurles on his second start for Willie Mullins, and has undergone wind-surgery since last seen.
The two to focus on, however, would appear to be Hometown Hero, who shaped much better at Ludlow last time (and holds Luke on a line through the third), and Tigerbythetail, who is a well-bred son of Yeats. A half-brother to Grade 1 winner Roksana, he ran well in a bumper at this track last April and his fourth at Aintree behind Hillcrest is probably the best single piece of form on offer.
The Weatherbys nhstallions.co.uk Handicap Hurdle is more competitive, with a dozen taking their chance. The weights are headed by the 99-rated The Cincinnati Kid, for Henry Oliver and Champion Jockey elect, Brian Hughes. He travelled quite well at big odds at Wincanton last time, on the back of a wind-operation, and is reported to need better ground. He should be monitored in the market, having earlier finished in front of Scrutinise when the pair clashed at this track, back in November.
A lot of these are out of form, whereas Tara Iti arrives here on the back of having won a similar contest at Plumpton, where he travelled up strongly on the run to the last and appeared to win with a bit in hand. Up 7lbs for that success, he could still be ahead of the handicapper and receives a handy age-allowance, being a four-year-old. Gary Moore’s Sixties Icon chestnut is likely to make a bold bid to follow-up under Josh Moore, who was back in the winners’ enclosure on Saturday, aboard the talented Shallwehaveonemore.
Lightning Attack has run in three relatively decent northern novice/maiden hurdles, so is another to monitor in the market, although his stamina could be an issue (was a miler on the Flat), whilst Step To The Top is the other potentially interesting runner, based on her bumper form. Third behind Fontaine Collonges (now rated 132 after winning at Lingfield recently) and second to Nada To Prada (now rated 126) at Warwick, she finished runner-up in a Listed event at Kempton and sixth behind Flirtatious Girl and former stable-mate Speech Bubble (now rated 128) in a similar event at Sandown. Ninth in the Grade 2 at Aintree last April, she has struggled over hurdles thus far, but ran in a decent race at Leicester on her debut for current trainer Craig Lidster, where she faded from two out. She never got involved at Catterick last time, but if rekindling anything like the pick of her bumper form, would be extremely interesting from an opening mark of 87.