Ryan Potter on Jetoile ahead of Saturday's Tolworth Novices' Hurdle at Sandown

Nicky Henderson, Paul Nicholls and Harry Fry. All previous winners of the Grade One Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown and all with a runner trading at odds of 8/1 or below in the ante-post betting for the 2022 renewal on Saturday.

However, when studying the form of the nine entries at the five-day stage, one could be forgiven if they are less familiar with the man who trains one of the other contenders trading at a general 7/1.

The horse in question is Jetoile and the man who trains him is Ryan Potter, who is now more than halfway through his first full season with a licence at the Caradoc Estate near Ross-on-Wye.

Incidentally, that base was once home to John Edwards, who sent out Pearlyman to win back-to-back renewals of the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 1987 and 1988 during a training career spanning more than 30 years. He also trained Yahoo, runner-up to Desert Orchid in arguably the most memorable edition in the history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1989.

Potter himself moved to Caradoc in July 2018 after saddling his first winners under Rules earlier that year. Foxclub was the horse to make the breakthrough for his trainer, winning a hunter chase at Fakenham in February 2018 before adding to his tally in a similar event at Cheltenham less than three months later.

Potter had a small team of horses to run mainly in point-to-points around that time, but the operation has steadily expanded since he was granted his full licence in July 2020. After ending the 2020/21 campaign with a total of five winners under Rules, Potter is clearly delighted with how things have continued to progress since, with this season’s tally already up to seven.

He said: “Last season was a bit of a learning curve, but it worked out well. We didn’t have many horses in, we probably only had about seven or eight.

“We’ve got 16 in this season, so we have more numbers and, ideally, we should be getting more winners. Everything has been going really well and the horses seem in good form.

“We’ve still got a few pointers, but they’re mainly young horses to try and win with to sell on. We’ve got a load of new owners and a nicer class of horse overall.”

One new owner to the yard is Jane Bennett and a shining example of the nicer class of horse is Jetoile, who has proved a total revelation in three outings this season. Bought by his previous connections for €72,000 as a three-year-old, Jetoile failed to win in four starts in Irish points, but he clearly caught the eye of one person.

Explaining how the horse came to be in his yard, Potter said: “We got him through an agent called Jimmy Kelly, who sources these sorts of horses from Ireland.

“I rang him and said I’ve got an owner who wants a nice horse. He said this horse needs buying, and it was humble enough money compared to what he cost a couple of years earlier.

“Jetoile has turned out to be a very good investment for Jane Bennett. She is a new owner to the yard, and we couldn’t have asked for a better start really.”

Jetoile made his debut under Rules in a maiden hurdle at Cheltenham’s Showcase Meeting in October, returning an SP of 80/1 but belying those odds with a huge run to finish third, beaten just a length and a quarter, behind the Gordon Elliott-trained Top Bandit.

Afterwards Potter put out a Facebook post which began: “I’ve made it no secret how much I love this horse! He’s proved me right!!!!”

It’s clear from that message that Jetoile was held in high regard at Caradoc long before his debut under Rules, and Potter is in no mood to back down from that position now.

He said: “Jetoile is a bit special. I actually came away from Cheltenham disappointed. I know he was 80/1, but I genuinely thought he would win that day.

“We probably just didn’t make enough use of him, he stayed on again after the last and he was beaten just over a length.

“The form has worked out – you couldn’t get more solid form really. The winner [Top Bandit] has come out and won twice at Punchestown and the second [Brorson] who beat us a neck has come out and won twice as well. He won yesterday [on Monday] by 16 lengths.

“The form of the first day stacks up and Jetoile has come out since and done it very impressively at both Chepstow and Leicester. For any horse to win with a penalty in a novice takes a bit of doing and he did it very easily.”

Sporting Life ambassador Daryl Jacob has partnered Jetoile in each of his three starts to date and, after guiding him to the first of his two wins at Chepstow in November, the jockey described his mount as a horse who “still needs to learn his trade a little bit – I think with every run he’ll get better and better”.

When asked whether he concurs with that view, Potter responded emphatically: “Yes, definitely. The first day he was probably too keen, he was running on his nerves a little bit. At Chepstow there was a massive improvement and with every run he seems to be improving.

“Unfortunately, Daryl is injured and can’t ride him, but he is a big part of the race-planning with this horse, and it was his suggestion to go for the Tolworth. He thought that he was definitely good enough to go there.

“We don’t actually know how good he is but, everything we’ve asked of him, he has given it to us and more.”

Lorcan Williams is in line to deputise for Jacob at Sandown on Saturday, when Jetoile will be Potter’s first runner in any Graded race, let alone a Grade One. The significance of the occasion is clearly not lost on the trainer, who is understandably excited at the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in the sport.

He said: “It’s unbelievable to have a runner in a Grade One. To even have a runner in the same races as the likes of Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson is unbelievable.

“I never thought I’d have a Graded runner this early in my career, in only our second season. It’s very exciting and, if you take Constitution Hill out of it, it looks a very wide-open race.”

All eyes will inevitably be on the Henderson-trained Constitution Hill, who is currently a very short-priced favourite to confirm the striking impression of his debut victory over the course and distance of Saturday’s race. However, there is substance to Potter’s view that there is plenty to play for amongst the rest.

For context, Constitution Hill (156P) is very much the one to beat according to Timeform’s weight-adjusted ratings, but Jetoile (146p) looks to have at least as good a chance of hitting the frame as the likes of Might I (145p) and Mr Glass (145p), trained by Fry and Nicholls, respectively, and both currently trading at shorter odds than Jetoile.

As well as having comparable form to that pair, Potter is hopeful that Jetoile’s physical maturity will also stand him in good stead in what are likely to be taxing conditions at Sandown.

He added: “Some people might say it’s a disadvantage and some might say it’s an advantage, but Jetoile is the oldest horse in the race.

“He should be bigger, stronger and able to cope with the track. It can become quite gruelling at Sandown on soft ground, and they have a saying that Tolworth horses never go on and do anything the rest of the season.

“Jetoile is probably just that wee bit more developed than some of the other horses, which I think should help anyway.”

It remains to be seen who will win this year’s Tolworth and whether they can go on and do anything the rest of the season. One thing is for sure, however, and that is that Potter won’t be losing his faith in Jetoile, win, lose or draw on Saturday.

More from Sporting Life

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.