A big crowd spent most of the afternoon peering into a thick curtain of fog here on Saturday, but there was no mistaking the first horse to emerge from the gloom at the end of the Long Walk Hurdle. The bright green and gold colours of JP McManus, aboard the hot favourite, Unowhatimeanharry, landed a pre-Christmas blow for the punters as they crossed the line four and a half lengths to the good after his nearest challenger, Ballyoptic, fell at the final hurdle. As Harry Fry, the winner’s trainer, said: “The dreaming goes on.”
The big transformation in Unowhatimeanharry’s form since he joined Fry’s stable at the start of last season has been closer to a miracle than a dream. The eight-year-old had failed to register a win over hurdles in 11 attempts, and his form figures in early 2015 were 7P.
Eight months and one switch of stables later, Unowhatimeanharry lined up for a handicap hurdle at Cheltenham’s Open meeting and did so as the 7-2 favourite thanks to an avalanche of well-informed cash. An easy three-length victory kicked off a winning streak that is still alive six races later and now includes a second Grade One victory to add to his success in the Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival.
“Seven from seven is quite incredible,” Fry said. “It was a proper test today, as it was always going to be. Barry [Geraghty] has come back in and we’re relying on the jockeys to tell us what’s going on and he said he had to fight from four out, but then he only does what he needs to. If he keeps doing that, we’ll be happy.
“I’d have thought we’d probably look at the Cleeve Hurdle [at Cheltenham] at the end of January and then hopefully it’s all systems go for the big one [the World Hurdle] in March.”
Unowhatimeanharry was already towards the front of the market for the World Hurdle before his latest success and is now the clear favourite at around 3-1, ahead of the 2015 Champion Hurdle winner, Faugheen, who must be considered a doubtful runner.
“We couldn’t have ever hoped for this,” Fry said. “It’s extraordinary, but that’s what’s brilliant about National Hunt racing, sometimes these horses come along and they keep finding. He’s still progressing unbelievably and long may it continue. He’s got in the winning habit and sometimes when horses get a bit of confidence you never know where they’re going to end up.”
Nicky Henderson has a strong team of novice chasers this season and the trainer said he will need to juggle them around a bit after Top Notch took the graduation chase here not long after Buveur D’Air’s impressive success on his chasing debut at equally fog-bound Haydock Park.
Buveur D’Air was the better of the pair over hurdles, ending his novice campaign in April with victory in a Grade One event at Aintree, and he made a very polished transition to fences under a confident ride by Aidan Coleman.
Coleman was content to sit several lengths off the pace and keep an eye on Cloudy Dream, his only significant rival in the market. He dragged his hind legs through the second last, but still made up several lengths in a few strides before the final fence before quickening three and a quarter lengths clear of Cloudy Dream at the line.
“He’s got loads of gears and it looked as if those still work all right,” Henderson said of Buveur D’Air. “He’s one that we always thought would go up to two and a half miles. You have the issue that there is another horse [Henderson’s top-class Altior] lurking there in the two-mile novice division, but that’s good because we always said the novice chasers needed to be good this year and they’re looking like quite a strong bunch.”
A meeting with Yorkhill could well lie ahead for Buveur D’Air after last year’s Neptune Novice Hurdle winner at the Festival meeting made a successful debut over fences in effortless fashion at odds of 1-8 at Fairyhouse on Saturday.
Yorkhill remains favourite for the JLT Novice Chase at Cheltenham in March at a top price of 5-1, while Buveur D’Air is second-favourite at 10-1. Willie Mullins, however, suggested that he was seeing Yorkhill as Arkle Trophy material. The trainer said: “He has huge scope for jumping and certainly has not lost any of his ability.”
The six-year-old is top-priced at 9-1 for the Festival two-mile contest, in a market headed by Altior at 7-4.
The fog at Ascot never quite obscured the final obstacles, but at Haydock it was all but impossible to see the finishing line by the off-time of the final race at 3.15, a handicap hurdle. With both the judge and the commentator unsure about the eventual finishing order, it took several minutes for Clyne to be confirmed as a the winner ahead of Le Rocher and El Terremento.
