Fugitif ran down Il Ridoto in a typical Cheltenham thriller on Saturday, proving there's life in a Christmas Meeting where our Ben Linfoot was impressed with a game novice.
For so long the December card at Cheltenham has been known as the ‘International Meeting’, named after the Grade 2 hurdle that was the jewel in the crown for so many years at this enormously enjoyable festive fixture.
Before it was branded as the International it was known as the Bula Hurdle, after the horse that won the same race in 1972, and he kicked off a sequence of famous winners that included Comedy Of Errors, Sea Pigeon and Birds Nest.
Relkeel did his best to revive the race in the late 90s with a hat-trick of wins, before Rooster Booster, Back In Front, Harchibald, Detroit City and Binocular made it a regular point of call for Champion Hurdle runners in the noughties.
The New One won it three times for Nigel Twiston-Davies after that, but in all honesty the race has struggled to attract the best horses in recent years as its proximity to the Christmas Hurdle and Ireland’s domination of the division took hold.
Moved to Trials Day in January for the first time this season, in a bid to make it a more viable option for the best British hurdlers to use as a stepping stone to the Champion Hurdle, it was always going to be interesting to see how Cheltenham’s two-day fixture in December, now repackaged as the Christmas Meeting, was going to fare.
Well, the home of jumps racing could hardly have written a better script for the Virgin Bet December Gold Cup, a race with its own rich history and now asked to hold its own without the support of the International.
It did that and more after a fabulous renewal, the race torn apart by a fascinating duel up front between Il Ridoto and Frero Banbou, the pair setting a lung-bursting gallop that sorted out the wheat from the chaff.
In the end their own private battle proved a detriment to the chances of both horses, Frero Banbou crying off first as Il Ridoto went for home under Bryony Frost, Paul Nicholls’ horse beating everything bar a flying FUGITIF who deserves great credit for this most dramatic of wins.
Hampered by the fall of So Scottish four fences from home, Fugitif had 15 lengths to make up on the front two at that point, but as Il Ridoto began to run on fumes you always fancied him to get there even if it was by a last-gasp short head.
An absolute thriller and a great training performance by local handler Richard Hobson, this £75,000 first prize the biggest win of his career, his decision to whip the cheekpieces off paying huge dividends.
Too keen in the sheepskin to do himself justice in the Paddy Power Gold Cup, he still ran a cracking race in fourth and bettered that form here, relaxing better in the early stages and benefitting for sitting off the strong pace.
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The runs of Fugitif, Il Ridoto and Torn And Frayed, first, second and sixth in this respectively after a fourth, third and a fall in the Paddy Power, were the first to come out of the November race and it points to the form being strong, which will please Stage Star’s trainer Paul Nicholls, for all that he was pipped at the post in this.
Fugitif won this off a rating of 151 and with him and Il Ridoto pulling nine lengths clear of Frero Banbou in third he could be forced out of handicap company now. Given his super record at Cheltenham – 22241 – perhaps Hobson will have half an eye on the Ryanair Chase come the Festival. Only the Nicholls-trained pair of Frodon (164) and Poquelin (163) have won this race off higher marks.
Il Ridoto won’t be missed by the handicapper, either, but he has built up such a fabulous New Course record you couldn’t put a line through him for another handicap at this track, the one he won on Trials Day last season, from Fugitif incidentally, looking the obvious route for him.
The combination of the strong gallop and the extended 2m4f with a stiff finish did for Frero Banbou, but he ran a stormer in third. He should at least be spared the hike of the front two and this was his third very good effort in a row at the intermediate trip. He can win over this distance granted slightly different circumstances.
Grandeur D’Ame was fourth after drifting in the betting and he was a bit of an unknown quantity from a form perspective after winning a race at Wetherby that fell apart around him last time. He coped well with the rising class, for all that he was well positioned after Tom Bellamy just eased him away from the duel between the front two.
Fakir D’Oudairies was bidding to do a Frodon or a Poquelin by winning this from a mark in the 160s, a tough task on his first run of the campaign, and his class ensured him fifth place without being given the hardest of races.
Thunder Rock, pulled up, was well fancied but his jumping was undone by the strong gallop, while So Scottish still looked to be going well enough when he fell four out.
He would’ve had to have flown home in Fugitif style to have got involved, but that was left to the winner under Gavin Sheehan, a jockey well on his way to his best-ever season, with this another historic handicap to add to the trophy cabinet following on from his win aboard Datsalrightgino in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury.
Broadway could be a star
The December Gold Cup wasn’t the only Premier Handicap on the card and the Favourite From The Sun Now Daily Handicap Chase also didn’t disappoint as BROADWAY BOY ran out a popular winner.
Heavily backed into 11/8 favourite, Nigel Twiston-Davies’ novice did extremely well to win this, not least because he lost his pitch a little because of a few mistakes on the second circuit. They didn’t halt his momentum and he found plenty for pressure which is most commendable for a novice in such company from a mark of 146.
Stay Away Fay is the current 5/1 favourite for the Brown Advisory, but on this evidence Broadway Boy is not far behind him, if at all, and revised quotes of 16/1 might well underestimate him, for all that the Irish will probably have a formidable team for the race come March.
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