Fergal O’Brien ended 2017 by saddling the first Grade One winner of his training career, underlining his yard’s reputation as one of the most able and upwardly mobile in jumps racing, and though he has yet to saddle a winner this year, O’Brien will hope to take a hand in at least one of this weekend’s feature events.
Barney Dwan, the early favourite for the Listed Hampton Novice Chase at Warwick on Saturday, is now an unlikely runner since the ground is expected to be too testing for last year’s Pertemps Final runner-up. I Shot The Sheriff, however, will head for the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton Park as a very live outsider, despite being pulled up on his first start for the yard at Newbury in December.
I Shot The Sheriff turned 11 on 1 January, but has made only 13 starts in his career and was thought worthy of a start in the Grade One Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2013. A nomadic career has seen him trained by Warren Greatrex, David Pipe and more recently Tony Martin in Ireland, before a switch to O’Brien over the summer.
While the bare form of I Shot The Sheriff’s only run this season is not encouraging, he travelled noticeably well for much of the race and O’Brien has an obvious explanation for Paddy Brennan’s decision to pull him up.
“He’s very lightly raced because he’s been very fragile,” the trainer said, “and we thought he’d gone wrong at Newbury after running a very good race. Turning into the straight, he looked like the winner but, as he landed over the first hurdle in the straight, he’d kicked off a shoe somewhere and the toe-clip had gone into his foot.
“As he landed over it, Paddy thought he’d gone wrong, but in fact, he’d stood on his shoe. I think it will be a nice type of race for him, they’ll go quick and he’ll be able to sit in and hopefully travel well like he did at Newbury. We’re very happy with him. He’s in good form and he worked well this morning, so we’re hopeful.”
Barney Dwan, who was less than four lengths away from giving O’Brien his first Cheltenham Festival winner back in March, would have been sure to line up for Warwick’s valuable novice event on Saturday given better ground, but O’Brien feels it will be better to steer the eight-year-old around what could be a hard race.
“It’s unlikely he’ll run, but only because of the ground,” O’Brien said. “We ran him once on heavy ground at Exeter and Noel Fehily said he didn’t like it, so I think it’s pointless going again. It’s the right race for him apart from that, but when it’s heavy at Warwick, it can be horrendous. I’ll speak to the owners but it wouldn’t be my choice to run him.”
Barney Dwan had been quoted as the 13-8 favourite for Saturday’s race by Paddy Power, ahead of Anthony Honeyball’s Fountains Windfall, who fell four out when apparently in command in the Kauto Star Novice Chase on Boxing Day. Fountains Windfall is also likely to miss Saturday’s race owing to the ground, and will run instead in a novice handicap event at Kempton Park, as Honeyball attempts to get his novice season back on track after two recent falls.
“It’s not really what I’d have envisaged after running in the [Grade One] Kauto Star, testing his handicap mark at this stage of the season, but win, lose or draw, it’s important to get him around,” Honeyball said on Wednesday. “It’s a smallish field and a reasonably valuable race, the course and distance will suit him and he’ll get better ground.
“Miss Parfois will run in the race at Warwick. This is her time of the year and her ground, and it’s in the spring that the likes of Windfall come into their own.”
Catterick 12.30 Turning Gold 1.00 Chu Chu Percy 1.30 Un Prophete (nap) 2.05 Hear No Evil 2.35 Gonalston Cloud (nb) 3.10 Pokora Du Lys 3.45 Nendrum
Chelmsford 5.55 Ross Raith Rover 6.30 Arnarson 7.00 Hairdryer 7.30 Spiritofmintoul 8.00 Arcadian Sea 8.30 Mercury 9.00 Black Truffle
Leicester 12.45 Not AnotherMuddle 1.15 Ballyrock 1.45 Acting Lass 2.20 Canyouringmeback 2.50 Fields Of Glory 3.25 Du Soleil
Newcastle 1.55 Artful Rogue 2.25 Esspeegee 3.00 Theglasgowwarrior 3.35 Battle Lines 4.05 Jellmood 4.35 Aleef 5.05 Native Appeal
