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Timeform Daily View | Friday preview and tips
John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Friday.
Three points of interest
Exciting Gidleigh Park makes chasing debut at Ascot
There won’t be many more exciting British-trained novices going over fences this autumn than Harry Fry’s Gidleigh Park who makes his chasing debut under top weight in the novices’ handicap at Ascot (12:55).
A tall, chasing type whose grandam was a half-sister to Gold Cup winner Denman, Gidleigh Park won his only bumper and then his first three hurdles last season. The last of those was the Grade 2 novice on Cheltenham’s Trials Day in January where he did a lot wrong in a muddling race but showed a willing attitude to regain the lead on the run-in that he’d lost going to the last. The half-length runner-up from that race, Lucky Place, went on to finish fourth in the Coral Cup from a BHA mark of 137, while the fourth, Johnnywho, made an impressive chasing debut at Carlisle last month.
Gidleigh Park didn’t lose his unbeaten record until the Cheltenham Festival where his trainer admitted in his recent Sporting Life Stable Tour that in hindsight he ran him in the wrong race. Sent off second favourite for the Albert Bartlett, Gidleigh Park didn’t settle fully before finishing sixth behind Stellar Story, finding the three miles on heavy ground too much of a test.
Regarding Gidleigh Park’s schooling, Fry reported that ‘everything he has done until this point has been good and we can’t wait to see him over a fence.’ Of Gidleigh Park’s rivals, Bad goes well at Ascot and showed promise on his chasing debut here earlier in the month but he’s often a weak finisher and Gidleigh Park should be capable of giving weight away all round before stepping up to graded company.
Joyeuse out to maintain stable’s record in Ascot hurdle
Nicky Henderson has won Ascot’s introductory hurdle (13:30) – for horses which haven’t run more than once over hurdles – for the last three years and has a good chance of keeping up that record with Joyeuse.
The five-year-old is out of a half-sister to connections’ 2020 Champion Hurdle winner Epatante and was bought to race in JP McManus’ colours for €235,000 in the autumn of 2022 having won her only start in a French bumper a month earlier.
Joyeuse didn’t have her first start for her new connections until over a year later when making a successful debut over hurdles at Taunton in January. After a fluent round of jumping, Joyeuse just needed pushing out on the flat to beat the Paul Nicholls-trained favourite Tutti Quanti by half a length. The runner-up won on his reappearance earlier this month, while the third Into The Park won his next two starts last season and is a similarly progressive type. Joyeuse herself looked worth her place in better company but hasn’t run since due to some ‘niggles’ but her trainer reports she has a bright future.
Joyeuse is one of five in the line-up to have won their only start over hurdles and lacks the recent run which all her rivals have had but taking her mares’ allowance into account she’s clear top on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings and can maintain her unbeaten record at the chief expense of another good prospect in Celtic Dino.
Intriguing beginners chase at Tipperary
Tipperary’s card concludes with a couple of interesting beginners chases, with the two-mile contest (15:07) looking a particularly intriguing race with several interesting chasing debutants.
Both of Willie Mullins’ runners have leading chances, with preference for Mark Walsh’s mount Mirazur West in the JP McManus colours. A brother to the stable’s high-class but fragile Ferny Hollow, Mirazur West quickly made into a useful novice over hurdles last season, making all to win a Grade 2 contest at Fairyhouse at Easter. A free-going type, he failed to stay when stepped up in trip but faced a stiff task in any case when fourth to stablemate Ballyburn at the Punchestown Festival and, back at two miles, has lots of potential over fences this season.
Stablemate Westport Cove, ridden by Paul Townend and a winner first time out for the last two seasons, is one to consider too. While he failed to add to his win in an amateurs maiden at Thurles over hurdles last season, he too showed a useful level of form, including when third in a valuable handicap at Fairyhouse in the spring.
Martin Brassil’s Built By Ballymore, a chasing type who was sent off favourite for the Coral Cup, and the mares Only By Night and Theatre Native, representing Gavin Cromwell and Henry de Bromhead respectively, also merit respect among those making their chasing debuts in a race to keep an eye on.
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