Cheltenham Festival Trials Day: Winners and Losers

EDITEUR DU GITE: Winner

It was hard to know just how much EDITEUR DU GITE had improved after his wide-margin success in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton at Christmas. Now we know.

Edwardstone unseated Tom Cannon at the fifth fence that day, completely changing the dynamic of the race, the front-running Editeur Du Gite not seeing another rival at 28/1.

He was similar prices for the Queen Mother Champion Chase before today. Not anymore. His aggressive jumping off the front end might well have been part of the reason neither Edwardstone nor Energumene ever looked comfortable and that’s a great asset to have in a two-mile chase.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of his performance, though, was how he battled back and knuckled down to see off Edwardstone up the hill once headed, showing an attitude to match his undoubted flair.

Now 5/1 and 6/1 for the Champion Chase, Gary Moore has got a player on his hands.

ENERGUMENE: Loser

Like Alan King says below, Edwardstone still looks very much on track for a huge tilt at the Champion Chase himself.

But what about the reigning champ? ENERGUMENE has drifted to around 2/1 to retain his crown and such prices look too short on this display, his usually good jumping not in evidence even before his race-ending mistake at the last.

He suggested in last year’s Champion Chase that he can be as equally effective when restrained, but that race somewhat fell apart around him and one wonders if forcing the issue might be the best tactics going forward.

Even so, he didn’t travel with the same zest this afternoon, his rhythm unsettled, and with Blue Lord all set to confirm his Champion Chase credentials at the Dublin Racing Festival next weekend it could be that he’s not even Willie Mullins’ number one contender for this race come March.

NOBLE YEATS: Winner

Ahoy Senor won the Paddy Power Cotswold Chase despite three or four jumping errors and while he was cut to around 12/1 from 50s generally for the Gold Cup he’ll have to jump loads better in March to be a player.

He got 3lb from Protektorat and NOBLE YEATS so today could well have been his day in the sun and with the Gold Cup in mind the one I’d take from the race is the Emmet Mullins-trained horse.

Giving 6lb to Sounds Russian, as well, he comes out the best horse at the weights here and he finished with a real rattle after being outpaced a good half mile from home.

He’s drifted out a little to 8/1, but for me he enhanced his Gold Cup claims. This was good evidence that he can handle the track and the hill, while a bigger field and slightly extra yardage in the Festival highlight will only play to his strengths.

PROTEKTORAT: Loser

Only two-and-three-quarter lengths behind Noble Yeats was PROTEKTORAT, but such was the manner of his performance this looked like further evidence that he’s not quite cut out for the Gold Cup.

Third in the Festival Friday feature last year after a last-fence blunder, he travelled strongly but was outpaced at a key point and stayed on at one-pace up the hill, his class ensuring his close-ish proximity to the front three.

Haydock showed what he can do on a flat track and he could well be better suited to the Betway Bowl at Aintree in April rather than going for another Gold Cup tilt.

Skelton was predictably bullish about his Gold Cup claims afterwards, blaming himself and saying he can get him to peak again at Cheltenham in March. That may be so, but he’s out to 20s in places now and the layers have another piece of Cheltenham form that suggests he’s not quite the right fit for a Gold Cup.

SCRIPTWRITER: Winner

It looked a case of best horse finishes second to me in the JCB Triumph Trial as SCRIPTWRITER was outstayed by Comfort Zone up the hill.

But this was another signpost that Milton Harris has got a seriously good hurdler on his hands as the son of Churchill took the step up in grade in his stride as he travelled through the contest like a top juvenile.

He jumped one or two too big and there’s room for improvement in that department, but this is a good-moving horse who will surely be miles better on spring ground.

That’s not guaranteed Cheltenham week, but if there’s some sort of ‘Good’ in the description I’d wager he’ll be best of the Brits and he might give those Mullins monsters a run for their money, too. Unchanged at 16s in places, those odds look fair.

JUPITER DU GITE: Loser

Sent off at 3/1 in the same race was Gary Moore’s JUPITER DU GITE, but he couldn’t do what his half-brother Editeur Du Gite did under two hours later as he spectacularly failed to channel his energy in a positive manner.

10/1 for the Triumph in the morning after a shock 66/1 shock first time out at Newbury, he’s four times those odds now after taking an age to settle under Jamie Moore who couldn’t get his mount to race in any way efficiently.

Eventually he dropped the bridle, but by then his goose had been cooked and he trailed home 29 lengths behind.

Described as cranky and ‘mad in the head’ by his trainer, he’s clearly got some ability but if Moore can get this one to look professional in time for a test like the Triumph he will have had to work miracles.

STAGE STAR: Winner

The Timeform Novices’ Handicap Chase has found eight Cheltenham Festival winners this century and it might well have found another in STAGE STAR who was a very impressive winner of the race for Paul Nicholls.

Four of those Festival winners came in the now extinct Novices’ Handicap Chase but Stage Star wouldn’t have got in that race anyway having taken this smoothly from a perch of 142.

At least a 150-rated chaser already on this evidence, he won’t be out of place in a Turners Novices’ Chase or a Brown Advisory and I’d expect him to go for one of those races, although he’d have more options including the Festival Plate Handicap Chase.

His assured jumping was a feature of his performance here and though the Irish battalion will present a much stronger challenge wherever he lines up at the Festival, he’s got course form in his locker now and that’s not to be underestimated.

EASYSLAND: Loser

Rated fully 33lb lower than the Cross Country mark he was allotted after slamming Tiger Roll at the 2020 Festival, EASYSLAND caught the eye of plenty of punters heading into Trials Day.

A semi eye-catching run at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day was the catalyst for overnight money and he was sent off 8/1 despite having form figures of P-P-P-P-0-0-9, but he threw the towel in as early as the 12th.

He plugged on for ninth beaten over 14 lengths, but this has to have been the last chance saloon for a horse that now looks a pale imitation of his former self.

WEVEALLBEENCAUGHT: Winner

Nigel Twiston-Davies’ horse didn’t run on Trials Day, but the New Year’s Day form of his WEVEALLBEENCAUGHT was franked in style by Rock My Way who showed strength and a good attitude to fend off all comers in the Ballymore trial.

Weveallbeencaught had to dig deep to see off Rock My Way four weeks ago but the pair were 23 lengths clear and it now looks a vital piece of pre-Festival form.

The highly-touted Twiston-Davies-trained six-year-old looked to win despite the 2m4f trip on January 1 and his trainer has already expressed a reluctance to take on Hermes Allen again in the Ballymore, so it looks Albert Bartlett all the way for the son of Getaway - who might even fly the flag for the brave Brits at the DRF next weekend in the 2m6f Grade 1 novice hurdle.

Lo and behold, the bookmakers have not missed a trick and have cut him to a general 10s for the Albert Bartlett after the collateral form boost, but he is clearly a force to be reckoned with in the staying novice hurdle division in the coming weeks and months.

PAISLEY PARK: Loser

Gold Tweet landed the Dahlbury Stallions At Chapel Stud Cleeve Hurdle in great style to blow the Stayers’ Hurdle division wide open AGAIN, but he needs to be supplemented for that race and trainer Gabriel Leenders seemed lukewarm on the idea afterwards saying: “we are not rich.”

It would be a shame if he didn’t turn up at the Festival after landing the best trial on Trials Day – the Cleeve has found nine winners of the Stayers’ Hurdle this century – and he won it easily.

The main angle from a domestic point of view was PAISLEY PARK who was a pedestrian third after travelling well off an ordinary pace, but this was a reminder of his vulnerabilities now aged 11.

He had looked in good nick at Newbury and Kempton earlier in the season, but perhaps they were weaker races than they seemed at the time and the best thing you can say for his Stayers’ Hurdle chances – he’s now 20/1 – is that it looks a really poor division.

And the best horse we’ve seen in it this season, in England anyway, might not even turn up in March. Get the Euros out, Gabriel, you might just strike Festival gold.

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