Timeform analysis | Key performances including Potters Charm and East India Dock

By Tony McFadden

Horse Racing

Mon November 18, 2024 · 2h ago

Tony McFadden provides the Timeform ratings reaction from the weekend, including three big performances at Cheltenham.

Potters Charm (144p from 138p)

Potters Charm gave a better indication of why he is held in such high regard by the Twiston-Davies stable when making it three from three over hurdles at Cheltenham on Friday.

He had been rather held back by a sloppy round of jumping when a workmanlike winner of a novice hurdle at the course last month but jumped much more fluently on Friday and it was clear turning for home that he had taken the measure of his market rival Valgrand.

He stormed 11 lengths clear, earning a Timeform rating of 144p which is the highest by a novice hurdler so far this season and the best in this Grade 2 since it was upgraded in 2008.

The average Timeform performance rating of a Challow Hurdle winner in the last ten years is around 141 so Potters Charm is clearly a big player for that Grade One at Newbury next month.

East India Dock (136p from 120p)

It's very early days for the juveniles and there will be plenty of smart prospects emerging over the coming weeks, but East India Dock established himself as a creditable contender for the Triumph Hurdle with an 18-length success at Cheltenham on Saturday that continued trainer James Owen's domination of the division.

East India Dock was the trainer's ninth winner from only 13 runners in the juvenile hurdle division this season and a Timeform rating of 136p identifies him as the best we've seen in Britain or Ireland so far by a stone.

East India Dock still needs to improve in the region of 10 lb to reach the level typically required in the last decade to win a Triumph, but this useful Flat handicapper has made a bright start over hurdles and put up a better performance at Cheltenham on Saturday than his half-brother Burdett Road managed 12 months earlier. Indeed, East India Dock's performance was the best in the race since 2017.

L'Eau du Sud (149p from 147p)

L'Eau du Sud had run to a high level for a chasing debutant at Stratford last month and didn't markedly increase his rating at Cheltenham on Saturday, but he enhanced his growing reputation with an 11-length win in the Grade Two Arkle Trial and the style of success suggests there's more to come when required.

Timeform's reporter gave L'Eau du Sud the large K and large J in-running symbols, signifying that the horse travelled notably strongly and jumped very well, and commented it would be "no surprise if he ends up being the third horse this century to land the Arkle itself after winning this".

L'Eau du Sud wasn't as good a hurdler as some of the potential recruits to chasing this season, notably Ballyburn and Sir Gino, but he has clearly taken well to this discipline and he's up there with best we've seen in the division so far. For context, Inthepocket earned a rating of 153p for his wide-margin win in a beginners' chase at Wexford last month.

Only Banbridge (155), a subsequent Grade One-winning novice chaser, has put up a better performance in the Arkle Trial in the last decade.

Down Memory Lane (152p)

There were a host of promising recruits to chasing in an interesting beginners' chase at Navan on Saturday, including last year's Royal Bond runner-up King of Kingsfield and this season's Galway Hurdle winner Nurburgring. However, that pair had to settle for minor honours behind Down Memory Lane who posted a decisive seven-length success that earned him a rating of 152p which is only 1 lb behind the division leader Inthepocket (also owned by JP McManus).

Down Memory Lane wasn't seen out again last season after finishing a distant third in an attritional renewal of the Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting, but he's evidently returned in good order and impressed with his jumping on his chasing debut.

Night Raider (122 from 115+)

Night Raider took his record on synthetic surfaces to four from four with a much improved and hugely impressive display in listed company at Newcastle on Saturday.

After three defeats on turf, Night Raider had got firmly back on track with a convincing win in a conditions race at Kempton last month and he had no problem with the step up in class at Newcastle, running his rivals off their feet and having matters under control a long way out.

That dominant three-and-three-quarter-length success earned Night Raider a Timeform rating of 122 which is only 2 lb lower than champion sprinter Bradsell achieved this year. A rating of 122 matches the figure Kind of Blue, the leading three-year-old sprinter on turf in 2024, earned for winning the Champions Sprint Stakes.

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