Lydia Hislop: Road To Cheltenham | Part One: Altior saga and the early signposts on the journey to the Festival

I’m not good at small talk so let’s wade straight in to Altior-gate, as several commentators have imaginatively dubbed it. (Newbies: there be irony in that there sentence. The rest of you: as you were.)

This was the kind of news story that should have shrunk the harder you looked at it. Instead, because some elements of the racing industry profess to discern no difference between the asking of questions and the inferring of guilt, it was allowed to blow up into a frustrating sideshow that only distracted from the enduring issue.

That issue is not even the perceived conflict of interest in trainers and jockeys being sponsored by, and producing copy for, bookmakers. No, the primary issue amid that particular fait accompli is how to establish industry-wide best practice in the timely and accurate communication of market-sensitive news. Also: how to improve bookmaker transparency in such a scenario.

It is a sorry fact that media organisations mostly can no longer afford to pay sporting stars the amount of money they can command for their words elsewhere. At the same time, the number of employed journalists is shrinking.

This means if you want to hear from a wide number of sporting stars regularly and at length – and there is ample evidence that enough of you do – they’re going to have to be paid for it by bookmakers. Betting operators have money. The media does not. Welcome to modern life.

So while there are elements in this story on which Nicky Henderson and Unibet (for whom he is *wince* ‘brand ambassador’) should reflect, the larger requirement is for the British Horseracing Authority to agree with its constituents a protocol to govern such events in future. And to strictly enforce that protocol.

If you’ve got this far without already tweeting me, then you’ll also be pragmatic enough to acknowledge that, on the evidence we have from Henderson, he wasn’t in a position to say anything definitive about Altior until he had received a second opinion on the breathing problem last Wednesday afternoon at 16:00. He told Matt Chapman on ITV Racing that he “then spoke to the owners and went to the press immediately”.

Yes, Henderson definitely shouldn’t have been so positive about Altior during At The Races’s On The Line programme two evenings earlier but he did not have any facts at his disposal at that juncture, only suspicions.

And yes, he should ponder why Altior’s Tingle Creek odds started to drift, alerting automated software and the betting public to a potential issue before he was in a position to make a fact-based statement.

In monetary terms, however, this amounted to very small beer. Little was matched on the exchanges, risk-management operations were soon suspending markets and ante-post betting is dead – dead as a dodo.

But the integrity – actual and perceived – of this sport is paramount to its survival and all participants have a duty to pervade that view throughout all aspects of their business.

Although Henderson has sharpened up hugely on this front – for example, he was exemplary in keeping the public informed about Sprinter Sacre – the bare fact that a drift pre-dated his announcement suggests some internal processes may require review.

Henderson’s tie-up with Unibet is almost entirely a red herring in this episode. Unibet’s third-party risk-management platform Kambi had automatically suspended their Tingle Creek market at 14:57:18 on Wednesday – something that happens across all markets very frequently.

Chez Unibet, they testified it was actually a Press Association phonecall that alerted them to Altior’s drift just before 17:00 on the Wednesday. Their PR department got the details from Henderson at around 17:45, the Seven Barrows Twitter account published a snap headline at 19:08 and his Unibet blog followed at 19:13.

Unibet might reflect that 90 minutes is too long to hold onto important news without an earlier snap. In fact, surely it’s time for all betting companies to concede that they are not the most fitting mouth-piece via which to break important, market-sensitive news about sportspeople on their payroll?

By all means publish exclusive quotes from your *cough* ambassador shortly afterwards but for reasons of public confidence in the probity of sport, the initial announcement must in future be made via a standardised third-party process.

For his part again, Henderson also didn’t appear to conceive of the distinction between telling Unibet and telling “the press” in general. This does not fall within a racehorse trainer’s area of expertise but, increasingly, it has to.

Getting the details right in that initial statement is also critical. Otherwise, as Henderson angrily discovered, journalists will tend to approach you for clarification.

For instance, it was important to establish – and to communicate to the public – why the “whistling noise” that Henderson’s Unibet blog mentioned had been heard the preceding Saturday was both not necessarily proof of a wind problem and a fairly quotidian occurrence on the gallops.

A journalist can’t establish facts without asking questions. Yet Henderson seemingly interpreted this as “insinuations” – albeit he had the mitigating factor of being at the time upset himself about Altior. Ex-jockey and touchline aggressor Robert “Choc” Thornton, with no such excuse, calls it “looking for something that is not there”. Well, a story might well turn out to be nothing. Or it might not. But you can’t tell until you ask. You must never assume.

So, what this unnecessarily explosive episode chiefly demonstrates – apart from the fact that certain journalists need to check their job description – is that both participants and bookmakers need guidance from the BHA.

There currently exists Rule 95.2, which requires trainers “immediately” to notify the Racing Calendar Office to make a scratching when he “knows that a horse he trains will be a non-runner”. However, Henderson couldn’t do this because Altior wasn’t entered in anything – the Tingle Creek not being an early-closing race and entries for the Queen Mother Champion Chase not being sought until January. Also, what happens out of hours anyway?

Perhaps via revisiting and tightening its existing (much relaxed) rules governing commercial relationships with its constituents, the BHA should require the timely announcement of important, market-sensitive news via an automated reporting system – maybe even one linked to Twitter? (In the old days, you’d use the Press Association but I gather that’s a bit pre-Millennial these days…)

This agreement would need to be extended to include owners, who are not currently licensed but for whom certain behaviours come under the jurisdiction of the BHA nonetheless. Under the terms of these rules, the owner’s right to know would remain primary but the prompt dissemination of “important” information would over-ride any commercial agreement in the first instance.

“Important” is going to require some guidance but it’s clearly not “he worked well on Wednesday” or even “he worked disappointingly on Wednesday” but rather pertaining to stone-cold, market-altering facts.

In tandem with the above, the BHA should also ask the Association of British Bookmakers and the Remote Gambling Association to establish an industry standard requiring all money traded to be refunded in all relevant markets from the time of the first alert until the time those market(s) are re-formed.

Last thought: if I were in the betting industry, I’d get cracking on this move towards greater transparency because the newly toothsome Gambling Commission might take a dim view of licensed sportspeople on the integrity front-line being in the pay of bookmakers…

Here endeth… Let’s get on the Road again. Due to the above discussion, I’ve opted to postpone my initial novice chase, novice hurdle and juvenile hurdle thoughts until next week, which tends to be quieter than the past seven days anyway and so affords such musings more space.

Timico Gold Cup

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Every wise guy across the land seems to know that a tough second-half campaign for Gold Cup hero Sizing John, encompassing five top-class races within four months (and in particular his unbeaten Leopardstown-Cheltenham-Punchestown sign-off) is going to do for him this season.

Given trainer Jessica Harrington has reassured us there are no problems with her pre-eminent stable star despite his Betfair Chase drift, the traction this widely held opinion has gained could be the root cause.

There have also been vibes from both trainer and jockey Robbie Power that the horse will come on for the run. But is he likely to be that stuffy given his owner, the late Alan Potts, had made it clear he wanted to chase the £1 million bonus for winning this race plus the King George and the Gold Cup? I suspect Saturday will be a good indicator of Sizing John’s impact this term.

At Haydock, he faces a fit and advantaged Bristol De Mai, who got the better of stablemate Blaklion in a Charlie Hall thriller – conferring quite a bit of credit on the runner-up, despite receiving 6lbs. In my view, the still-young winner is at his best on flat tracks, so I reckon the bonus underwriters can sleep easy should Nigel Twiston-Davies’s highly likeable grey steal Saturday’s thunder.

By the way, the race is going to be 1f125 yards longer this year – did we mention that? And that brush-hurdle race on the same card that you’ve been pinpointing all summer? It’s not going to be over brush hurdles. Team Haydock, Jockey Club Racecourses and/or the BHA didn’t appear to believe this to be material information to convey in a timely fashion to participants or ante-post punters. Mere detail. Spot a theme here?

Of course, having won the last two shorter editions, Cue Card also heads to Haydock after hitting the deck on his reappearance in the Charlie Hall. The low sun was identified as a contributing factor to both his fall and the significant error made by 2015 Gold Cup winner, Coneygree.

The fallout for Cue Card is a new jockey, a typically upfront Tizzard phoning Paddy Brennan two days later and telling him straight: “I thought the horse deserved to have a change of rider”. So Harry Cobden, last season’s champion conditional and fast becoming a big-time fixture, takes over.

Brennan and Cue Card had hit the deck in three of his last ten starts, the most costly being the first in the 2016 Gold Cup when connections were on the bonus trail with the first two legs in the bag. At Wetherby, he had started jumping hesitantly before Brennan rode him into the 15th and he failed to pick up. He’d already been niggled along at the end of the first circuit, however.

Coneygree had been earlier pulled up by Nico de Boinville after surrendering his solo lead at the eighth fence. Co-trainer Sara Bradstock later explained: "The sun distracted him and when he pecked on landing he suffered a nasty overreach. When he changed to a left-fore lead it put pressure on the injury and it hurt. He lost his action as it was sore.

“We don't have to worry about his jumping. He was just being careful and looking after himself. He's a sensitive horse and wasn't going to get going again. Nico did well to pull him up so quickly.”

So lightly raced is Coneygree, that you wouldn’t dismiss the idea of one or two glorious hurrahs in the fragile soul yet – much as he mustered against Sizing John and Djakadam at Punchestown after again missing the Gold Cup. But nonetheless you suspect his peak has passed.

For once in his life, his run style could be tested this season by the equally aggressive Might Bite, whom I backed for both the King George and Gold Cup in April.

My thinking for the first bet was this brilliant horse was set to smash Thistlecrack’s King George on the sectionals in the Kauto Star, had Daryl Jacob not had a rush of blood to the head at the final fence, and is majorly suited by Kempton.

Also, at more than three times that ante-post price, his scintillating style was being cited as a good reason why he wouldn’t be suited by the attrition of a Gold Cup. I’m not sure I hold with that theory – he’d just got bored after blowing away his opposition in the RSA Chase and thought he could slip in a swift one in the Arkle Bar and still win the race. That’s the kind of scheduling ambition I recognise and applaud – moreover, it turned out he was right.

So it might sound perverse but I didn’t know how to take his predictably – and suitably, given his history – low-key reappearance at Sandown. He won by as far as he should have done against lesser rivals and seemed to behave impeccably until all but refusing to pose for photos in the winner’s enclosure.

After winning the RSA, Henderson spoke of the tricky balancing act of harnessing this horse’s huge ability without dimming his idiosyncratic flame. I sort of worried he was acting too straight at Sandown, then reflected on whether I was seeing things that weren’t there – Choc! Choc! – and it was actually the ideal, more professional return of a maturing talent. We shall see.

I had also bolstered my Gold Cup position with a high-class slugger – I mean this as a compliment – in Our Duke. Shrewd. After never travelling on his Down Royal return, Harrington has discovered not one but two problems: he scoped dirty and was suffering with a back problem. The latter issue required surgery and February’s Irish Gold Cup was mentioned as the earliest juncture at which we’d see him again.

Thistlecrack we will see return over hurdles next week, after reportedly recovering well from a tendon injury sustained in January. Stablemate and Gold Cup third Native River hasn’t yet been seen since Cheltenham but his narrow conqueror for the runner-up’s prize, Minella Rocco, has underwhelmed on both sides of the Irish Sea so far this season – the latest of which was pulling up after jumping poorly at Cheltenham last weekend.

The Gold Cup is said to be Yorkhill’s target. I’m not sure I have the energy for that subject this week…

Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase

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There is a modicum of uncertainty hanging over this division with two of the big guns, Douvan and Altior, having suffered health issues – albeit the prognosis appears to be relatively positive for both parties.

Douvan’s erratic jumping in last year’s Champion Chase presaged the diagnosis of a fractured pelvis. In last month’s At The Races stable tour, Mullins reported: “He’s in good shape and has made a good recovery from his injury, which was a relatively minor setback in the greater scheme of things.”

Owner Rich Ricci has since claimed “no-one was entirely happy with him” last season “despite him putting in some pretty good performances; he just wasn’t showing that bullying style on the gallops, in his races”. This was the first time such concerns were expressed in public, as far as I am aware – which isn’t to say this is untrue. Let’s call it a lose-lose interpretation.

At the time of writing, it would appear Douvan has been pencilled in for the Tingle Creek. Altior, you may be aware, also misses Sandown and, following a breathing operation, it could be a rush to get a prep into him prior to the Festival – which means he could be in the unsatisfactory position of making his seasonal debut in the Champion Chase.

That means the clash we’ve already spent eight months talking about should take a back seat in the anticipation bus. There’s a real possibility it might not happen and not just for reasons of infirmity but also because Min could come to supersede Douvan as Ricci’s primary two-miler… [Final Furlong Pod regulars know what to sing here.]

Min missed the second half of last season with “niggly issues” according to Mullins but has “summered particularly well” according to Ricci. Another potential Mullins-trained contender, this time for McManus, is the headlong Great Field whose untrammeled style is reminiscent of Un De Sceaux, although he has reportedly suffered a setback and won't be seen until at least the spring. Then there’s Yorkhill… A girl can dream can’t she? This is the race for him!

But while all this is contemplated, Fox Norton has been busy getting on with winning races impressively. He failed by a head to reel in Special Tiara in last year’s Champion Chase, perhaps (chief of the rest of the field) having given that horse too much rope for fear of where Douvan was lurking to pounce.

At this stage, the Ryanair would appear the likeliest target but – quoting his mother – trainer Colin Tizzard observed: “A good man can always change his mind.” Were Fox Norton to run away with the Tingle Creek or – perhaps more of a stretch – Sizing John to flop in the Betfair, thus opening the gate to this deputy’s convincing King George performance, Fox Norton could be going anywhere.

“We mustn’t pigeon-hole horses. He’s a very good two-miler on… soft or heavy ground today He hasn’t come up against the very best but he’s beat these like no horse could beat them any better. So he’ll go to the Tingle Creek,” Tizzard said after his horse’s back-to-back Shloer triumph.

“Most of these good two-milers will stay any trip and I think he’d do anything.”

On his traditionally underwhelming seasonal debut and on ground far more testing than he prefers, Special Tiara ran rather well in third. Beforehand, trainer Henry de Bromhead said he had no reason to think the ten-year-old wasn’t as good as ever. You can’t help but think this super horse has had his moment in the Festival sun, however. Mind you, I wrote him off last year…

Politologue would have won the Grade One Maghull at Aintree last April but for stumbling on landing at the last and yet again proved when paddling late over 2m2f in the Haldon Gold Cup that utilising his quick jumping under positive tactics over a bang two-mile trip is his métier. He’s rising in this division but as yet a good deal more is required.

Ryanair Chase

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Fox Norton rightfully tops this market but, having been confident at the start of the season that this would be his target, I am admitting doubts. If pushed, I still reckon this is his best option but the lure of either more prestigious Festival chase has four months to overpower connections.

The late Alan Potts loved the Gold Cup so when Sizing John fleetingly occupied this section of the Road last year, there was always the possibility that his owner might opt to roll the big dice. How fitting that his daring and ambition scored a double six.

It must be more certain that titleholder Un De Sceaux will return here – his two-miling days on spring ground are surely in the past. We’ll know more about the shape he’s in if/when he pitches up at Sandown. It’s possible that those who call for Djakadam to contest this event might get their way this season – but perhaps only if Mullins has got a better Gold Cup prospect.

Then, of course, there’s the horse said to have the ultimate transferable skills on his CV, Yorkhill. Isn���t this not-knowing fun? Not really.

There’s also the Gigginstown massive – Outlander, Disko, Road To Respect, Sub Lieutenant, Alpha Des Obeaux, Balko Des Flos – to name but six potential contenders for the de facto sponsor. I’m bound to have overlooked an army of their alternatives at this stage.

Tenth in last year’s Gold Cup, Outlander beat last term’s Plate winner Road To Respect in the Champion Chase at Down Royal earlier this month. This comprehensively reversed the form of their Punchestown encounter the previous month. The former had clearly come on markedly for his seasonal debut, having had an operation to correct a kissing spine over the summer.

Sub Lieutenant, last year’s Ryanair runner-up, has so far been well below his best in two starts this term. But Alpha Des Obeaux produced a career-best over fences to win the Grade Two Clonmel Oil Chase, with Balko Des Flos trailing in third. That winner broke a blood vessel in the RSA Chase last year, mind, and might be better positioned here than in a Gold Cup.

Disko is the other interesting Gigginstown contender at this stage – with the caveat that he could always be recruited for the Gold Cup – after showing improved form to beat Ballyoisin on his seasonal debut at Down Royal.

It was surprising that Disko wasn’t given a more positive ride in last year’s JLT, in which he finished a close third behind Yorkhill and Top Notch, given those tactics seemed to suit so well in the Flogas. He has potential.

I was a little disappointed with Top Notch’s seasonal bow over hurdles behind Unowhatimeanharry. I adore this bonny little horse but worry he may struggle at the highest grade out of novice company this term. I hope very much that I’m wrong.

Cloudy Dream deserves a shout. He ran encouragingly when snatching second from Special Tiara in the Shloer, over a trip too short and in ground too deep. Stablemate and recent Carlisle winner Waiting Patiently needs a lot of steady improvement to reach this league but continues to go the right way.

Stan James Champion Hurdle

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It was a lean Machine who made his long-awaited return to action last Sunday but sadly the most eager anticipator of that moment was forced to send his apologies. So it was Paul Townend, replacing a broken-legged Ruby Walsh, who had the honour of pointing Faugheen in the right direction.

None of his three rivals fancied taking him on for the lead in the Grade One Morgiana Hurdle – a recurring motif in the majority of his races and certainly in his best performances. Here at Punchestown, he was gifted about four lengths at the start and never felt a rival upsides to test what can occasionally be untidy jumping.

So his reach for the fifth and awkward leg-drag at the last were mistakes entirely of his own making. That said, the way he ratcheted up the pace on landing from a quick jump at the third last was signally reminiscent of his pomp.

In the first of the Final Furlong’s NH preview podcasts, Kevin Blake mentioned how comparatively forward in condition Faugheen had appeared when he saw him at Willie Mullins’ yard last month.

He later quoted the trainer in his At The Races stable tour: “We did things differently over the summer with him, as he missed most of last season and wasn’t really in need of a break at the end of it so we kept going with him. As a result of that, I think he’ll be quite a bit more forward at the beginning of his campaign this time around than he has been in the past.”

This proved to be spot on: he beat a race-fit Jezki ����� a light of lesser days, no doubt – by 16 lengths unhassled. No wonder Nicky Henderson and JP McManus, trainer and owner of titleholder Buveur D’Air, exchanged meaningful glances after watching Faugheen on the big screen next to Cheltenham’s parade ring.

That initial marker is already a harder gauntlet that has yet strewn the path of a mature Buveur D’Air – albeit that, hand-in-hand with Faugheen being relatively forward and the fact he’ll be ten next March, there may not be much improvement to be made.

9/4 for a horse who’s missed the past two Champion Hurdles doesn’t really appeal four months in advance of that target. To recap: the 2015 hero missed out on defending his crown due to a suspensory injury and then on his oft-deferred comeback run in January – his third intended start last term – after tweaking a muscle behind. We hadn’t seen him since… albeit Walsh had been reporting verified sightings in training since late summer.

It’s great to have him back, whether or not he’ll ever again be capable of that scintillating 2016 Irish Champion Hurdle victory (see video below) when he demolished Arctic Fire by 15 lengths. There’s talk of him trying two-and-a-half miles this term, so expect him to be entered in the Stayers’ Hurdle again and to run in the Champion – or not at all.

Behind him and struggling in third at the time at Punchestown, Campeador hit the deck (with an ugly tired fall) for the third time in five starts since joining Gordon Elliott from France. He’s been very lightly raced since crashing out when going strongly in the 2016 Triumph. On this evidence, he’s out of his league even before you address residual confidence issues.

Sam Twiston-Davies was supposed to have made a blood pact with his father that The New One would be aimed at the Stayers’ Hurdle this season after one last, last go at the Champion in 2017. Yet so far this season the doughty none-year-old has continued to race at two miles, so perhaps it will be fifth time lucky in March. You can argue that both starts this season are as good or slightly better than his sole best of last term, academic though that is.

Turning to the artists formerly known as novices, McManus’s racing manager Frank Berry’s deeply unsatisfactory Craig David cover version has been overtaken by events. He said Defi Du Seuil would run in the Greatwood on Monday, the horse was announced a non-runner on Tuesday, the Altior news broke on Wednesday, and continued on Thursday and Friday and Saturday. We chilled on Sunday.

Berry’s change of mind appeared to hinge on the revelation that Defi Du Seuil is a four-year-old. Whatever, it must be possible that this horse will end up heading to the Stayers’ Hurdle if Buveur D’Air keeps his end up this season – not that McManus is averse to multiple runners in any Festival event.

Other second-seasoners to file in the back of your mind at this stage are Melon, who readily won a Grade Two at Down Royal on his seasonal reappearance, and four-year-old – Gadzooks! Another one! Something kinda freaky going on here? – Divin Bere, whom I took a shine to last season.

He had one of those racecourse gallops laid on across the south at three-weekly intervals for Henderson at Newbury earlier this week and proved to be alive, along with stablemates Buveur D’Air and Charli Parcs. The last-named reportedly “impressed”. Yakety yak!

Sunbets Stayers’ Hurdle

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Unowhatimeanharry made a highly satisfactory return to action when beating two smart rivals in Value At Risk and Top Notch over an inadequate trip at Aintree earlier this month.

He heads next to the Long Walk Hurdle at Newbury next week where he’ll face Thistlecrack, meaning the last two winners of that event will be squaring up – admittedly with the titleholder holding the advantage of race-fitness and a full, injury-free season last term.

Trainer Harry Fry believes Unowhatimeanharry was not as his best when only third to Nichols Canyon in last year’s Stayers’ Hurdle and you can read the form that way if you like.

However, it’s hard to explain exactly why the horse wouldn’t be at his best – aside from something an observer could not discern and yet of which there was no mention at the time from either Fry or jockey Noel Fehily. Track, trip, ground, pace – all should have been suitable. He didn’t even make any jumping errors.

With Harry rising 10 years of age in March, he looks entirely beatable again and as short or shorter than Nichols Canyon for no good reason. Indeed, if anything, Walsh rode the victor with a target on Geraghty’s back last March and was surely surprised to find Lil Rockerfeller making his best way home some way ahead instead and a hard nut to crack. But crack him, he did.

Harry did beat Nichols Canyon at Punchestown but I tend to be wary of that season-end form for the following year’s Festival – with due apologies to Djakadam.

Lil Rockerfeller finished 33 lengths adrift at Punchestown last April and failed to shine on his seasonal debut at Wetherby at the end of last month. Yet by no stretch of the imagination was his Festival second a fluke last year – if anything, he sat much closer to the string pace set by Cole Harden than the two rivals whom he split at the line.

In the West Yorkshire Hurdle he lost one of his cheekpieces at an early stage and appeared to rue its absence when rolling left and right in the straight. Trainer Neil King was reportedly satisfied with this return, believing the horse should improve markedly for the run.

His preparation for last year’s Festival didn’t pass smoothly either: after disappointing in a quagmire in January, he was withdrawn from the National Spirit on the day of the race and turned up at Cheltenham after a rare 74 days off the track. The 25/1 dotted about is too big.

That said, there remains a niggle in the back of my mind that horses whose run style is to doughtily respond to pressure for most of three miles can cool on the enterprise.

Colin’s Sister won the Wetherby Grade Two event quite convincingly in the end, improving for the step up to three miles as trainer Fergal O’Brien expected.

She will have a mares’ agenda in the short term but if the trip is indeed primary (as her breeding also suggests), she may well end up contesting the Stayers’ rather than the Mares’ Hurdle, which she missed last year with a bruised foot. She must improve again but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that her hefty 7lb mare’s allowance could eventually place her within hailing distance.

Last year���s Albert Bartlett third Wholestone chased her home at Wetherby with his best effort yet – albeit he had enjoyed the benefit of a Chepstow prep.

Saturday’s Cheltenham success testified that Thomas Campbell is improving fast but in the winner’s enclosure afterwards I asked Henderson on Racing UK whether the horse was a fringe Stayers’ Hurdle player he frankly indicated that he didn’t consider the horse to be in the same league as L’Ami Serge. Admittedly, it might not have been the best timing…

The official handicapper doesn’t agree with Henderson, with 1lb now splitting the pair even though L’Ami Serge has won the French Champion Hurdle while we weren’t looking – trying three miles for the first time albeit it’s rarely a comparable test of stamina. Both horses have their quirks and must improve further but Thomas Campbell shapes as being the more suitable for this task.

Others to stand by for in this division are Penhill, who surprised me when winning last term’s Albert Bartlett and won’t be out until after Christmas according to Mullins, and The World’s End, who fell with every chance at the second last at Cheltenham but went on to win the Grade One Sefton at Aintree.

Supasundae, who improved again at the end of a busy second-half campaign when second in Aintree’s Grade One Liverpool Hurdle, could prove to be a live contender in this division in the spring.

Given he threw himself to the ground for no good reason on his second chase start at Exeter, it would be no surprise to see Supasundae’s Aintree conqueror Yanworth wind up in this division by March.

OLBG Mares’ Hurdle

Click here for Sky Bet's OLBG Mares' Hurdle odds

Last season, this contest actually produced a race rather than a procession – or would-be procession in Annie Power’s case – when Apple’s Jade, Limini and Vroum Vroum Mag jumped the final flight locked together.

Despite being headed there and having had much more use made of her than her closest pursuers, the determined Apple’s Jade forced her head back in front up the final hill.

She is the only one of this trio to have emerged so far this season, making all to beat a small field over this trip at Navan but disconcertingly jumping out frequently to her right. It might well have been that leading didn’t suit her.

Jer’s Girl, who fell three out when yet to play her hand in this race last year, chased Apple’s Jade throughout and without ever looking likely to mount a serious challenge.

Mullins, of course, has a strong hand for the race he has only failed to win twice.

On last term’s edition, I strongly prefer Vroum Vroum Mag over Limini even though there was only a nose between them at the line. The former arrived relatively unheralded at Cheltenham after a dull win at Doncaster and suffered a wide trip. Yet she still travelled strongly into the home turn before being outstayed.

She subsequently finished lame in the Champion Hurdle at Punchestown in April but was reportedly “in good form” last month and set to switch between hurdles and chases this season. However, lameness was again the reason for her withdrawal from the Morgiana last Sunday.

Limini did not race again last season but is reportedly “stronger” this season according to Mullins. Last year’s Trull House Stud Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle winner Let’s Dance was responsible for the fall that broke Walsh’s leg at Punchestown last Saturday. The race was yet to get serious when she clipped the fourth last with a good hurdler’s fall – she wasn’t leaving much margin for error but that was the first time she’s hit the deck.

Forge Meadow, a well-beaten eighth behind Let’s Dance at Cheltenham, ended up making all in what was marginally a personal best. Barra, who chased Let’s Dance home last March, was below par again.

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