Jockey Club Rescinds 140 Mare Cap Rule
In the face of an end run in the Kentucky legislature, The Jockey Club will rescind its 140 mare cap for stallions, the organization announced in a press release Thursday morning. “The Jockey Club announced… [To read this entire TDN News Story, click here.]
by TDN
Cheltenham Festival Stable Tours
During the build up to the Cheltenham Festival the Racing Post goes behind the scenes with the top trainers in Britain and Ireland, as they give us horse-by-horse guides on their leading contenders for the big event.
You can read them in full in the paper and online exclusively to Members’ Club Ultimate subscribers.
Read on for a preview of our latest tour from the legendary Nicky Henderson and a special offer if you fancy reading the rest.
Nicky Henderson Stable Tour Preview
‘You press a button and he goes – he’s exactly what every trainer wants’
If one man is in a position to stand up against another Irish onslaught at the Cheltenham Festival it is Nicky Henderson, who has a heavyweight favourite for a Grand Slam event in Shishkin, the market leader for the Champion Chase.
Epatante, Champ and Chantry House are in the mix for the Champion Hurdle, Stayers’ Hurdle and Gold Cup and, while some might need a leap of faith to see them as winners, there is weight to Henderson’s words when he speaks of his optimism and their wellbeing.
The future’s bright too, extremely bright, as Jonbon and Constitution Hill are firmly in the could-be-anything bracket and both set for a mouthwatering Supreme.
The trainer says: “We were first and second favourite for the Supreme and then Willie [Mullins] brings out two and we might not even have the favourite, but that doesn’t make any difference to me. We know we’ve got two very good horses in Constitution Hill and Jonbon and they’ll almost certainly play here.”
Ballymore-bound Walking On Air might just be in the same category as well.
Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle/Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle
He’s done nothing wrong. We upped him to two and a half miles on Trials day but I suspect he didn’t stay. He looked like winning at the last but didn’t quite get home. He’d shown a lot of pace in his two wins over hurdles at speedy tracks and I probably should have stuck to my guns and gone for the Sidney Banks, but reasoned we might as well find out about his stamina at Cheltenham. Plans are up in the air – I wouldn’t not run him because of Jonbon and Constitution Hill, but Aintree might suit. He’s very good and his form stands up well. He’ll be going somewhere smart, but I’m not sure where.
Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle, 5-1 generally
He was fantastic at Ascot in the Long Walk, but fair play to Emma Lavelle and her team for getting Paisley Park back in the Cleeve. I’m not making excuses, but I don’t think Champ was as sharp at Cheltenham as he was at Ascot. We’ll try again in the rematch, and he’s in good form and has come out of Cheltenham well. That was a trial and he didn’t travel with the zest he had when he tanked through the Long Walk and also jumped more fluently. Our job is to get him better and, if we can’t, I’m sure everybody would love to see Paisley Park win again.
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Keith Melrose analyses the Champion Chase
The undoubted highlight of the season so far was Shishkin’s thrilling win over Energumene in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot. The winner was down on his nose twice – once literally at the sixth, the other figuratively as Energumene pressed on three out – but powered home to get up in the last 30 yards. So much of the build-up to the Champion Chase is going to focus on the rematch, and rightly so. But at Ascot the stage was essentially clear, First Flow could not dominate Energumene early on and Amoola Gold was running for minor money. At Cheltenham, there will be so many more complicating factors, not least loads of competition for the lead. Front-runners like Put The Kettle On, Allmankind and even tearaway outsider Editeur Du Gite could be buzzing around Paul Townend on Energumene until at least the ditch at the top of the hill. You can back Chacun Pour Soi and Nube Negra at decent each-way prices at the time of writing. Chacun Pour Soi (6-1) is up there with the big two in terms of ability, but he has tended to misplace his on the boat across. Both of his runs in Britain have been underwhelming. Nube Negra (10-1) is brilliant when he is fresh, he smashed Politologue here in November, and he has been off since the Tingle Creek to prepare his bid to go one better than last year. All four of those horses are capable of at least mid-170s form on Racing Post Ratings. A figure of 175 would have won six of the last ten runnings of this race and dead-heated in another. There does not seem to be much room left at the table, a point emphasised by some of the names on the wrong side of the ’20-1 bar’. They include former winners Politologue and Put The Kettle On, Tingle Creek winner Greaneteen, and Envoi Allen.
It was not long ago that Envoi Allen was termed ‘the best horse ever to look through a bridle’ by Eddie O’Leary. This week has shown that he and brother Michael are quick to indulge in a bit of hyperbole when it suits, but it shows the esteem this horse was held in. His likely presence adds another dusting of intrigue to what promises to be the race of the week at the Cheltenham Festival.
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