When a trainer performs an about-turn in the middle of a season, there is obvious potential for embarrassment if Plan B immediately goes awry. There was never any prospect of Nicky Henderson leaving Sandown Park by the back door , however, as Buveur D’Air returned from fences to timber with one of the easiest victories of the winter, half an hour before his stable companion Top Notch came home five lengths clear in the Grade One Scilly Isles Novice Chase.
Top Notch’s win was more valuable, but Buveur D’Air’s hard-held success may have given the trainer more satisfaction, given that the six-year-old had been prominent in betting for the Festival’s novice chases until earlier in the week. Instead, he is now the clear second-favourite with most bookmakers for the Champion Hurdle on 14 March, and would be an obvious favourite if Faugheen, the champion in 2015, fails to appear at the meeting for the second year running.
Buveur D’Air was just a length-and-a-half ahead of Rayvin Black at the line, but his overall superiority would be measured in stones rather than pounds as Barry Geraghty, his jockey, had his mount on a tight rein as he eased past the long-time leader after jumping the last.
The best price available about Buveur D’Air for the Champion Hurdle is now 5-1, with Faugheen out to 5-2, and Geraghty could be left with one of those problems that jockeys always claim are the best sort to have: Buveur D’Air or Yanworth at Cheltenham?
Yanworth, who is also owned by JP McManus, who retains Geraghty, was due to be the owner’s runner in Saturday’s race until a minor injury intervened. Yanworth is out to 7-1 for the Champion Hurdle and may run out of time for a prep race, so it would be no surprise to find Geraghty aboard Buveur D’Air in March.
“You don’t learn a lot [from such an easy win],” Henderson said, “but at this stage of his life, I think he might just be a sharper hurdler than he is a chaser. Barry said you can make a length over a hurdle with him whereas you probably can’t over fences. He’s very quick and slick and he’s pacey too. We’re on the right road and I think needless to say that’s the road we’re now going to take. I don’t think we’re suddenly going to bounce back [over fences].”
Henderson has another interesting contender for the Champion Hurdle in Brain Power, who is above Buveur D’Air in the official ratings after an impressive success in a valuable handicap at Ascot in December.
“Brain Power very much in the picture too,” Henderson said. “He didn’t come here today because I was frightened of the ground, but until yesterday morning they were both going to run. I don’t think we’ll run him [before Cheltenham] as we’ve only got Kelso and Wincanton left, and I don’t want to drag him through a bog because he’s in top, top form. He’s been doing it all really well, and he worked really well this morning.”
Top Notch’s success in the card’s Grade One event was almost as smooth, though Clan Des Obeaux, the 13-8 favourite, was a disappointment and trailed home last of the five runners. That should not distract too much from the merit of Top Notch’s win, however, as he was going like the winner from three out and quickly went five lengths clear of Baron Alco after jumping the last.
“It’s all about confidence,” Henderson said. “When we started novice chasing with him, it was an experiment. We found him two nice, easy races and if you can’t do that, you can’t get to this stage, it’s so important. You could see him growing up and now he’s winging around like he could do it in his sleep. Paul’s horse [Clan Des Obeaux] upsides him looked like a giant, but he was jumping with him and he loved it. He loved the two-and-a-half as well, so that’s answered another question.”
The two-and-a-half mile JLT Novice Chase is now the obvious target for Top Notch, who is top-priced at 8-1 in a market headed by Willie Mullins’s Yorkhill at 6-4.
Paul Nicholls was on a run of 26 successive losers after Clan Des Obeaux’s disappointing performance, but he then snapped the sequence at Musselburgh where Diego Du Charmil was an impressive winner of the Scottish County Handicap Hurdle, a race worth as much as Top Notch’s Grade One success.
Greg Wood’s Sunday Selections
Musselburgh
1.40 Burbank 2.10 Frodon 2.40 Lough Derg Spirit 3.10 Fair Loch 3.40 Overland Flyer 4.10 Aubusson (nb) 4.40 Captain Woodie
Taunton
1.50 Mohaayed 2.20 Black Valentine 2.50 Go Long 3.20 Contre Tous 3.50 Verni (nap) 4.20 Abracadabra Sivola 4.50 Scales
