GOING FOR GOLD
February 21 2008
DENMAN AND KAUTO STAR
I couldn't have asked for any more from their prep races, Denman won really well at Newbury and so did Kauto at Ascot. We then had the well-documented scare with the latter on Saturday night. He had a shoe on him on Wednesday morning, cantered as normal and hasn't missed any work at all and is 100 per cent now. It was just a little bit of pus in his foot which we cleared up. He has missed no work, has done everything he would have done without the scare.
Denman had a quiet week after Newbury and we are just starting to pick up his work now. Our task now is to get them to Cheltenham in three weeks time in good order.
NOLAND:
Ante-post favourite for the Arkle having had one run at Folkestone recently which he won quite nicely and the second has won since. He picked up a bug that day and wasn't quite right for ten days but is back in tip-top shape and schooled very well recently. I will run him at the end of this week. They have been watering at Sandown and if the ground is good there he will run on Friday, if not he will go to Kempton the day after. I am very keen to get a run into him on an undulating track so Sandown would be ideal and he has been declared there. I hope to get one more run into him and then the Arkle. The form of his Supreme Novices' Hurdle has worked out well, he jumps great, and if we can get him there fit and well he is the one they all have to beat.
MASTER MINDED:
He won very well at Newbury the other day where he beat Voy Por Ustedes and he is now joint-favourite for the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase. He had been doing some sensational work at home, for a five-year-old he improved enormously. His jumping and everything just seemed to come together. He won really nicely at Newbury and while we were getting six pounds from the runner-up, I don't think the weight made any difference. He jumped and travelled nicely and is right in the picture for the Champion Chase. He could even have improved from Newbury, people who have been riding him since are convinced he has.
TWIST MAGIC:
I made a mistake in running him at Ascot just after Christmas when the ground was very testing and won't be doing that next year. He comes to hand really well and I have always felt he is a spring and autumn horse. He loves better ground, he really benefits from getting some help from it. He will be suited by a fast-run Champion Chase which it looks like being. If Fair Along and Tamarinbleu both run they will go a fair old gallop and that will suit my horses. Cheltenham soft isn't quite like Ascot soft but he would be better on good ground. It is highly likely Ruby will ride Master Minded and Sam Thomas Twist Magic but nothing at all is set in stone. Twist Magic will have a fair old spring campaign and I have an idea to run him at Punchestown and then come back to Sandown for the big race there at the end of the season.
ELUSIVE DREAM:
He won over two-and-a-half miles at Ascot on Saturday and is in the Spa and Ballymore Properties at the Festival. If the ground is good I would prefer the former for him but Ruby got off on Saturday and said he may be better suited by a flat track. As a result I have put him in at Fontwell on Sunday in the National Spirit and if he is really well and the ground stays good he could go there, miss Cheltenham, and head to Aintree. Nothing is set in stone but we will see how he is at the end of the week and assess the ground at Fontwell. If he doesn't run at the weekend he will go to Cheltenham. He has done nothing but improve, jumps well, and I think he could develop into a World Hurdle horse next year.
DEAR VILLEZ:
He had a fall on his chasing debut at Plumpton but subsequently won nicely back there and at Newbury. He's in the Royal & SunAlliance and the Jewson. He has a mark of 138 so it will be interesting to see what sort of weight he gets in the latter. He looks fantastic, likes some cut in the ground, and if we ran him in the SunAlliance he would be a live outsider but we could run in the Jewson, depending on what weight he would carry.
TURKO:
He has done very well this season having had a breathing operation in the summer. He won an intermediate chase very nicely at Sandown and then finished second to The Listener in Ireland last time. I wasn't sure he was going to get the trip as well as he did and we could perhaps have made a bit more use of him. He is in the Gold Cup but is almost certainly going to run in the Ryanair Chase which will suit him.
SILVERBURN:
He is Denman's full-brother and has been doing well in his own right, winning two Grade Ones. He was a litte disappointing in the Feltham over Christmas where it looked like he didn't stay. However it was Ruby's first ride back over fences and tactically we could have have got it wrong. He got caught flat-footed when they sprinted in a slowly-run race and I am adamant he stays three miles. We made more use of him at Sandown last time when he jumped very well. The emphasis on stamina and jumping in the Royal & SunAlliance will suit him and I honestly don't feel we have ever had him any better. I am really looking forward to running him and feel he has an outstanding chance.
PIERROT LUNAIRE:
He just got beat at Ludlow on his first start for us and won at Taunton ten days ago. He is in at the weekend in the Adonis Hurdle at Kempton and he runs there. He is in the Supreme, Triumph and Fred Winter at the Festival and we will know a lot more after Saturday. He is a horse with a huge engine and is capable of holding his own in whatever race he runs in.
STAR DE MOHAISON:
He won the SunAlliance Chase two years ago and followed up at Aintree. Had a few problems last season and had a bit of heat in his leg so we gave him time. He came back over hurdles just after Christmas and finished third on very soft ground. He has improved since then but we have had a few niggly problems with him, nothing to do with his legs, so haven't been able to get a run into him since. He looks fab and if he is working well and we are happy with him, he could end up running in the Gold Cup. If not he will wait for Aintree. We haven't seen the best of him yet.
MARODIMA:
He has a handicap mark of 148 which puts him up with the very best of the two mile novice chasers and while he didn't run very well at Ascot last time, we had excuses. On his best form he is well capable of running a tidy race at Cheltenham and we have kept him fresh and well. If the ground is good he has a lively outside chance.
ORNAIS:
After he won at Newbury the other day he was given a handicap mark of 156 which is only a few pounds below what Denman had after he won the SunAlliance. I thought his mark of145 before Newbury was stiff enough and I know he won nicely but some of the other horses didn't run up to their best. We have always thought of him as a nice staying chaser who could run well in a SunAllliance but never thought of him as one who would win one. The handicapper may be right and I may be wrong so we will see. The intention is to run in the Royal & SunAlliance along with Silverburn.
CELESTIAL HALO:
He was joint-favourite for the Triumph before he ran at Doncaster the other day where I was probably guilty of running him a bit short. We were trying to pinch an easy race without giving him too hard a time and were beaten by a very good horse. We weren't quite ready and he has improved enormously since. We have three weeks to get him ready and I think he will run a very big race in the Triumph.
PASCO:
Terry Warner owns him and he has won his last two races at Newbury. He is a big horse who gallops and jumps and he holds and entry in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle and is also in the County. The former is probably the favoured option and he will be a lovely chaser in time.
NEPTUNE COLLONGES:
He won well at Wincanton on Saturday, it was probably a career best. He made all and galloped on well, despite getting a little lazy in his jumping which is just him. He definitely runs in the Gold Cup, his mark of 171 doesn't put him too far behind Kauto Star and Denman. He deserves to run but some of his better runs have been on flat tracks. He will go on to Aintree or Punchestown after Cheltenham but he deserves to run in a Gold Cup and could get placed.
FIVE DREAM:
He started favourite for the totesport Trophy at Newbury last time having previously won handicaps at Cheltenham and Sandown. It could be time to go back into novice company with him. After he won at Cheltenham Ruby got off and told me to put him in the Coral Cup as he wanted a trip. I thought he was half teasing me but after Newbury he said the same thing, as he was flat out all the way. He now has an entry in the Coral Cup on Ruby's advice and is also in the Triumph and the Supreme Novices. I would like to see soft ground for him, if it was good we would probably have to go for the Coral Cup, but a mark of 145 puts him up there with the best of the juveniles.
CHAPOTURGEON:
He is a nice four-year-old who has won his last two starts at Lingfield and Wincanton. He is going to be a lovely novice chaser in time and has a handicap mark of 130 so could run in the Fred Winter at the Festival before being put away for the summer.
RIPPLING RING:
He is one of the favourites for the Supreme Novices and won really cosily on his only start for us at Doncaster. He is a big, strong horse but he is South African and has his coat wrong. He has just started growing a winter coat as the rest of ours are losing theirs so we have had him clipped. I would like to see some milder weather for him in the build-up but he has a huge engine and is a horse you will hear a lot of both this and next season.
ARTURIO:
He got beat at Wincanton on Saturday when a ridiculously short-priced favourite on ground that was too quick for him. He loves soft ground and won really well in his first chase at Cheltenham over Christmas and he has a mark of 137 in the Jewson. He wants soft ground and a trip and will be a really smart staying chaser next season. If we get some juice in the ground he would run well at the Festival.
MAHONIA:
He will be my only runner in the Championship Bumper and won very nicely at Chepstow the other day. He had finished fourth in a point-to-point in Ireland last spring and we have been really pleased with how he has been working at home with our better horses. He did a really nice piece of work with Five Dream so we thought he was good. The Festival will be his last start of the season and he will make a cracking novice hurdler next season. He's one to follow in the future.
THE TOTHER ONE:
He took a long while to come to hand and has won all five starts over hurdles, including a couple of decent handicaps. He is in the Ballymore Properties and the Spa at the Festival but I have to decide which one he runs in. He is also in the Coral Cup but his handicap mark is quite stiff now so the novice route looks favourite. If Elusive Dream runs at Fontwell this weekend then The Tother One will probably run in the Albert Bartlett Spa Hurdle.
BIG BUCKS:
Andy Stewart is desperate for a winner at Cheltenham and he owns this fellow who we bought with a similar profile to Kauto Star. He won the same race in Auteuil and has run some nice races for us but looks like he wants further than two miles. He is in the Arkle and the Jewson but if he ran in the former I would like to see some soft ground to slow the others down - that said Donna who rides him at home is adamant he will be a much better horse on good ground. Give him a summer he will be a proper horse next year running over a trip.
I'MSINGINGTHEBLUES:
He won a nice race at Cheltenham earlier in the season and is in the Supreme Novices and will also be put in the County Hurdle. He runs at Kempton on Saturday which will sharpen him up for the festival and the County could just suit him.
BREEDSBREEZE:
Won the Tolworth Hurdle and is in the Supreme Novices and the Ballymore Properties but would only go for the former if the ground was very testing. He won over two-and-a-half on his first start at Chepstow and the Ballymore Properties is his likely target. He has done nothing but improve this year and will be a cracking chaser next season. - sportinglife.com
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