Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of changes to historic races, but I’m wholly in agreement with the change to this year’s Cheltenham Festival that prevents any horse from running there more than once in the same year. Rule changes made it hard to do so at last year’s Festival but it was still just about possible. Now there are new race conditions which will prevent any horse from being declared for a Festival race if it has already been declared for another Festival race, or has run already at that Festival.
There have been some great examples of resilient horses that ran twice in years gone by, mostly from the days when the Festival was only three days long. I think Our Armageddon was the most recent winning example, when he landed the Cathcart Chase in 2004, two days after being pulled up in Well Chief’s Arkle. The glorious Mysilv was an extremely game second in the Stayers’ Hurdle of 1996, having run sixth in the Champion Hurdle two days earlier; she’d never tried three miles before.
But if Cheltenham is supposed to be a rigorous, end-of-season test for our best horses, it shouldn’t also be something that those horses tackle twice in a week, in my view.
Moving the second-last fence on the Old Course also seems like a good idea. This decision, revealed by the Guardian on Monday, will give horses an extra 10 yards from turning the final bend before they are asked to take off, which should allow for another couple of strides. Some horses have seemed to be caught out by the fence since it moved to its current spot in 2010 and this should be a very helpful difference for some of them.
There has also been a bit of shuffling of the running order at the Festival, with the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle swapping places with the Grand Annual Chase at the end of the Friday card and becoming the final race of the meeting. On the Tuesday, the National Hunt Chase will now be the final race.
Contrary to what might be imagined, the running-order changes are not inspired by any attempt to reduce risk, even though there was some discussion last year about whether the Grand Annual might not be the best race to end on; the thinking was that jockeys desperate to get a winner at the Festival might ride in an especially aggressive manner. If there’s any truth in that, it will remain true, since the Grand Annual will still be the last Festival race of the year for professional jockeys.
Ian Renton, who runs Cheltenham, told me these swaps have been made “purely because we think it’s right to have the professionals finish in the sixth race, if we can”. So, while the amateurs go out for the National Hunt Chase on Tuesday or the conditional jockeys go out for the Martin Pipe on the Friday, the hard-working pros get to pack up and make an early exit.
We’ve an interesting jumps card at Market Rasen on Tuesday, where Seemingly So (3.25) is a tempting 5-1 for a handicap hurdle. A winner of a novice contest at this track in November, he was then well held at Southwell but the softer ground didn’t help and he had a claimer up that day. The runner-up has since won a handicap, suggesting that Seemingly So is very fairly rated for his first outing in handicap company.
Bachelor (1.50) should be favourite for the opener, while Newberry New (4.00) is a big price at 8-1 for a horse who has now come back to his last winning mark.
Cobden aims to stem River flow without ruining Clan’s Cup plan
Harry Cobden reflected with relief on Tuesday on the most important decision of his young career, when he stuck with Clan Des Obeaux over Politologue in the buildup to the King George VI Chase.
It was a brave -decision for a 20-year-old to make, well rewarded when the horse then delivered Cobden to the winner’s enclosure, and the two will pair up again at Newbury on Saturday in a prep-race for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
“I had a few people telling me to ride the grey horse,” Cobden said in reference to Politologue, “more than a few people telling me I was on the wrong one. But I stuck to my guns and made the decision I thought was right. It was quite a good decision, wasn’t it, because Politologue was 6-1 and Clan was 16-1.”
Ayr 1.30pm Lastin’ Memories; 2.00 Galvin 2.35 Glittering Love; 3.05 Camile;3.35 Effet Special 4.10 See Double You; 4.40 Lilly’s Arc
Ludlow 1.40 Some Boy McCoy (nap); 2.10 Style De Garde; 2.45 Pineapple Rush; 3.15 Gortroe Joe; 3.45 Via Delle Volte; 4.20 Road To Rome; 4.50 Juge Et Parti
Kempton Park 1.50 Naughty Nigel; 2.20 Gold Fleece; 2.55 Magic Mirror; 3.25 Wimpole Hall; 4.00 Enthaar (nb); 4.30 Percy Prosecco
Wolverhampton 5.10 Deconso; 5.45 Phoenix Star; 6.15 Noble Expression; 6.45 Areen Heart; 7.15 Zorawar; 7.45 Scofflaw; 8.15 Toni’s A Star
