Sunday Service: Horses to follow after big weekend including Newbury and Fairyhouse

Forget the Irish for now - British novices are promising so much

Potters Charm, Regent’s Stroll and now The New Lion; how would you price up the Challow Hurdle?

Let’s just hope three of the UK’s best young prospects make it to the big race back at Newbury on December 28 as that would have the distinct feel of a domestic championship contest. Which is precisely what it’s supposed to be after all.

And wouldn’t it be refreshing to see at least one of them go on and hold their own in March as well?

I’m no doubt guilty of getting ahead of myself but we’re surely not far off nickname territory for Friday’s maiden hurdle winner Regent’s Stroll, who is from the family of Ditcheat legend Denman and did a fair impression of The Tank himself after overcoming a bad mistake two flights from the finish to win as he liked. The Chinook might fit the bill, given how well he did to get the landing gear out in time on this occasion, but one suspects his will be a household name before long.

The Twiston-Davies-trained Potters Charm - devilishly impressive at Cheltenham twice already this season - could be more the complete package for a race like the Challow, but it was very hard to mark down The New Lion’s Saturday success under a penalty in the Newbury novices’ hurdle (replay below).

His jumping is absolutely electric and will stand him in very good stead going forward. One could argue he even looks more of a two-miler in the making than either of the other pair, so his trainer Dan Skelton will have to weigh that up as I could see him winning the Formby Novices’ Hurdle (ex-Tolworth) at Aintree over Christmas if they’d rather avoid Potters Charm and Regent’s Stroll until the spring. Ducking horses isn’t really a Skelton thing, in fairness, so the three-way clash could be on and that would be terrific.

It was a highly productive weekend for Nicholls and Fergie & co. as not only did Kalif Du Berlais put his Carlisle chasing debut fall behind him when winning the novices’ handicap at Newbury, but Caldwell Potter helped bury the hatchet even deeper with quite a striking success at the Cumbrian venue on Sunday.

Last week’s final schooling sessions had prompted a bit of a rethink with Caldwell Potter and it was notable to see a horse once considered a potential Gold Cup type in the making starting out over two miles.

A bold, athletic jump at the first must have settled a few nerves and although he went with almost too much zest and dived a little left at one or two, the grey's fencing was very accurate on the whole.

They’re going to have an awful lot of fun with this horse; whether it’s 740,000-euros worth of fun is open to debate, but it's all relative isn’t it...?

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results

Write off any of Willie Mullins’ recent beaten favourites at your peril.

Considering the time of year, plus the well-documented dry autumn conditions which delayed a number of horses getting back into full work, it would be insanity to expect the champion trainer to have his horses anything like fully firing right now.

We’re gently encouraged to pretend otherwise, but for Mullins the whole season revolves around Christmas, the Dublin Racing Festival, Cheltenham and Punchestown.

We’ve been here so many times over the years. Mullins' big names getting beaten early in the campaign, with some people even calling into question the well-being of the entire Closutton string.

It happened again last season with the likes of Ballyburn (and plenty others to boot) beaten on seasonal debut, so if you're starting to fret over the defeats of State Man (4/9), Galopin Des Champs (16/5), Argento Boy (11/10) or Foreverwalking (1/2) then go have a word in the mirror.

This Saturday it was Mystical Power who came in for heavy support before putting in a limp performance when sixth of seven in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle.

An obvious blip for the previously consistent and high-class novice, but a disaster? History dictates you really couldn’t go that far and then we had French import Willy De Houelle turned over at odds of 1/4 in the juvenile hurdle at Fairyhouse on Sunday.

He travelled like the best horse in the race before having his pocket picked late and will be well worth another chance especially on testing ground during the winter. A left-handed switch to Leopardstown won’t do him any harm given how he jumped here too.

Elsewhere on the same card, I was far from blown away by Royal Bond winner Tounsivator or Croke Park in the Drinmore, but Lossiemouth was awesome - almost ethereal - in the Hatton's Grace Hurdle.

Billed as the Stayers' Hurdle winner against the new Champion Hurdle favourite over the perfect intermediate trip, this proved to be a very one-sided affair on ground plenty quick enough for the former. Paul Townend probably couldn’t believe his luck that it was allowed to be turned into a genuine test of speed, and the young mare he was steering duly obliged.

It seems like she’ll be kept clear of reigning champ State Man until much later in the year so a meeting with Constitution Hill or Sir Gino prior to the big one isn't out of the question, providing Nicky Henderson is willing to give it a proper crack with Saturday's Fighting Fifth winner.

And after everything already noted about Willie's horses this time of year, I can’t wait to see what Lossiemouth could do with the pre-Christmas pipe-opener now under her belt.

The Best is yet to come...

No sooner had he come onto the radar, he was denied the opportunity to show his hand but keep tabs on Sunday's Fairyhouse non-runner Best Years Yet.

I wouldn't dream of suggesting he could be the latest Coral Cup project for trainer Martin Brassil and owners Sean & Bernardine Mulryan, for fear of annoying too many people, but the Listed-placed Flat recruit has already made three starts over hurdles during his time in France, looking quite progressive in the process, and was given an Irish rating of 143 ahead of what was supposed to be his stable debut in the two-mile Listed handicap at the weekend.

The same connections ran gambled-on favourite Built By Ballymore (rated 139) in last season's Coral Cup, having very nearly won it with An Epic Song (137) in 2023 and a certain Fastorslow (141) in 2022, so we're possibly in the right ballpark here aren't we.

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