John Ingles provides the Timeform ratings reaction to the successful chasing debuts of three Grade One-winning hurdlers in the past week.
DANCING CITY (142p)
Rated 148 over hurdles last season when the leading staying novice, Dancing City met with his only defeat in Grade 1 novice company when third in the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham behind Stellar Story and The Jukebox Man who have already won in graded company switched to fences this term. Prior to that, Dancing City had been the outsider of the field when winning the Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival and confirmed himself a smart staying novice after Cheltenham by winning at both Aintree and Punchestown.
In the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree he turned the tables on The Jukebox Man in second, while in the War of Attrition Novice Hurdle at Punchestown he was a gritty winner from stablemate High Class Hero with Stellar Story back in fourth this time.
Dancing City made his chasing debut in a beginners chase over just short of three miles at Punchestown last Tuesday. Bar a minor blip three out, his jumping was pretty assured and he seems sure to take a similarly high rank over fences after landing the odds on his chasing debut.
Always in control after taking over at the eighth, he quickened clear early in the straight before his absence began to tell late on, but he had a length and a half to spare at the line over Shannon Royale who’d been touched off by Dancing City’s stablemate Sa Majeste in a similar event at Tipperary. Dancing City is entered in the three-mile Grade 1 novice at Leopardstown on Boxing Day.
JANGO BAIE (146p)
Jango Baie earned a rating of 148p over hurdles last season when winning his first two starts, notably the first running of the Formby Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree on Boxing Day when beating the subsequent Scottish Champion Hurdle winner Favour And Fortune. Jango Baie found one too good in his three remaining races last term but showed improved form on the last of them back at Aintree when runner-up to Kateira in a premier handicap, storming home having met plenty of trouble after two out.
Jango Baie was the only one making his debut over fences in Friday’s SSS Super Alloys Novices’ Chase which is nearly always an interesting contest and was won last year by Ginny’s Destiny. The latter’s trainer Paul Nicholls saddled favourite Caldwell Potter who’d made a successful chasing/stable debut at Carlisle twelve days earlier but he was headed two out by Jango Baie who went on to win convincingly after travelling well.
Jango Baie won by six and a half lengths from Springwell Bay (conceding 8 lb to the winner), with the same distance back to Caldwell Potter in third. Nicky Henderson had won this race previously with Mister Fisher, Whisper and Oscar Whisky, and Jango Baie looks well up to contesting graded company from now on.
MAJBOROUGH (146p)
Majborough looked a very untypical winner of the Triumph Hurdle last season when rated 150p, being a big, well-made type and every inch a chaser on looks. That was just his second start for Willie Mullins and his third in all after a winning debut at Auteuil, and he still looked pretty raw at Cheltenham but knuckled down well after the last to get the better of stablemate Kargese who went on to win at Punchestown.
Majborough wasn’t seen out again last season but, not surprisingly given his physique, Mullins has wasted no time in sending him over fences and Majborough looks set to make a still bigger impact over the larger obstacles based on his smooth success in a two-mile beginners chase at Fairyhouse on Saturday.
Jumping fluently for the most part at the head of affairs, Majborough impressed with how much distance he put between himself and above-average stable-companions Tullyhill and Asian Master for just a shake of the reins on the run-in, winning by six and a half lengths and half a length. As a four-year-old, Majborough was getting 6 lb from the placed pair but he’s sure to go on to better things over fences.
He’s now generally 4/1 second favourite for the Arkle behind stablemate Ballyburn who is rated 149P after his own successful chasing debut at Punchestown last month.
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