Alex Hammond takes two against the field in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury, including the Evan Williams-trained Quoi De Neuf.
A wonderful weekend of action at the Dublin Racing Festival – which performances most impressed you?
Well there were many and to begin by stating the bleeding obvious, Faugheen was right up there. Willie Mullins must pinch himself when he surveys the talent he gets through his gates at Closutton - but this chap is imperious.
To achieve what he has through his career and to still be raising the roof as a top level novice chaser aged 12 is incredible. He’s tough, talented and more importantly, wants to win. It tells you something about the way a horse is revered when the beaten jockeys in a race are keen to pat the victor on pulling up and that’s exactly when happened after Sunday’s win; spine tingling stuff. The Marsh Novices’ Chase looks his most likely target at the Cheltenham Festival for which he’s 5/1 second favourite with Sky Bet.
Of the high level winners over the two days, the horses I’d most want on my side going forward were Notebook and Appreciate It.
The former is now 5/2 favourite with Sky Bet for the Racing Post Arkle and looked like a monster when winning the Irish Arkle after an epic duel with Cash Back. His jumping was slick, enthusiastic and accurate. Appreciate It deserves his position as 7/4 favourite for the Weathberys Champion Bumper after winning on Saturday at Leopardstown and looks like the perfect candidate to continue Mullins’ great record in that race.
Big day too on the all-weather at Lingfield. How impressed were you with Bangkok there?
I was at Lingfield and have to say, if I fell in love with Bangkok last season, I professed my undying love towards him after Saturday’s performance. He looked tailor-made for the all-weather contest beforehand and that proved to be the case as he turned the Winter Derby Trial into a procession. He broke the track record and winning jockey Rob Hornby told me afterwards that the four-year-old gave him "some buzz".
Hornby said he has always fancied going on a track day to race a sports car and the feeling he got from Bangkok was probably pretty close to emulating that! The colt looked all class in the paddock beforehand with a gleaming, moleskin coat (quite an achievement for early February) and I think this will be the year that he books his spot at the top table.
If this horse doesn’t win a group one by the end of 2020 I’ll be astonished. Winning trainer Andrew Balding has many options to consider now, including a valuable race in Saudi Arabia and the Winter Derby back at Lingfield later this month for which he is 2/1 favourite with Sky Bet.
Tremendous action at Newbury this weekend – any early fancies?
There are some real stars on show that will probably land the odds in their respective races, the likes of Altior in the Game Spirit at Newbury (2/5 favourite with Sky Bet on his return to two miles) and Native River in the Betfair Denman Chase (1/3 favourite, although beware of Might Bite if he can recapture some form).
However, the big betting race is the Betfair Hurdle, which provides us with its usual conundrum. Not So Sleepy is one of the protagonists for Hughie Morrison and when I spoke to the trainer this week on Sky Sports Racing, he was being a tad pessimistic. That’s his style though, but you get the impression this is the type of animal that gives those close to him sleepless nights.
He’s a headstrong character with a barrel load of quirks and he likes to do his own thing up front, but jockey Jonathan Burke has struck up a good understanding partnership with him and Not So Sleepy was smart on the flat and even better now facing a few flights of hurdles. He’s 13/2 with Sky Bet and I’d definitely want him on my side.
Evan Williams has his team in zinging form at the moment and he has two rolls of the dice. However, what he runs will very much depend on the weather. Mack The Man is Sky Bet’s 5/1 favourite and he could do with some hefty rain showers before Saturday, whilst QUOI DE NEUF would prefer the wet weather to stay away. I think the latter is the most likely scenario if the forecast is accurate so I’m going with the bigger priced of the two.
He is a 14/1 shot at the time of writing. That’s decent each-way value for this horse. He was brought down at Ascot last time out in the race won by Not So Sleepy, crashing out at the fourth flight so too early to gauge if he was going to threaten the eventual winner. Prior to that, he wasn’t beaten far when fourth behind Harambe in the Greatwood Hurdle and he looks capable of running into a place at the least.
I could make a case for a number of these but one other to watch out for is CIEL DE NEIGE. He finished third in the Fred Winter at the Cheltenham Festival last March on his first start for the trainer, having begun life in France. He has since changed ownership and is now sporting the famous green and gold hoops of JP McManus. He was desperately unlucky not to break his duck in a maiden hurdle at Limerick over Christmas after almost getting squeezed off the track and staying on strongly, just failing to get up. He looks to have a big race in him and is a 10/1 shot.
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