The first day of Newbury's Hennessy meeting, and though it might be stating the obvious there is no way you can ignore anything Paul Nicholls runs. The champion trainer sets out his stall for this fixture and over the past five years he has had 13 winners from 47 runners. You can be sure Nicholls has had the opening juvenile hurdle in mind for Chapoturgeon (1.00) for some time. Nicholls liked what he saw when this grey gelding finished third in a Listed hurdle race at Auteuil in May, and Chapoturgeon was bought to run in the colours of David Johnson. The Pipe owner is new to the Nicholls yard and they will be keen to make a good impression. Nicholls has stated he doesn't think Chapoturgeon is a Triumph Hurdle horse, but certainly good enough to win a hurdle race or two, and the stable landed this race with a similar sort in Turko a couple of years ago.
It's that man Nicholls again in the second at Newbury, a race he has won for the past two years. Oscar d'Angron (1.30), another French import, has shown plenty of ability over fences at Auteuil. The word this morning is this five-year-old could have plenty in hand off his current mark of 114.
Click here for all the day's racecards, form, stats and results.
And click here for today's latest odds.
