A WEEKEND OF PROFIT: Boston Bob (WON 9-4) kept Daqman ahead of the game yesterday after success on Saturday with three winning returns. His profit for the two days was 24 points.
Cheltenham can expect another Irish monopoly. Boston Bob’s convincing win at Navan yesterday was one more piece in the jigsaw which makes up the big picture for the festival.
So dominant are the Irish novice hurdlers that it left their champion trainer, Willie Mullins, with the sweetest of headaches that comes with owning two of the top quartet in the business, on all known form.
As well as Boston Bob, the first Mullins-trained winner for the Wylie family, he has the Royal Bond winner, Sous Les Cieux, currently being quoted for the Supreme Novices, Neptune and Albert Bartlett, with compatriot Jessica Harrington with Steps To Freedom heading the market for the Supreme.
Unless subsequent trials swing in our favour, Fingal Bay, our Sandown Neptune-trial winner, is our main – only? – defence against this big three from Ireland.
I spoke yesterday of Thousand Stars as a value alternative to Big Buck’s (World Hurdle); Ireland has another burgeoning challenger for the RSA, Tony Martin’s Bog Warrior; and of course Hurricane Fly (Champion Hurdle), Quevega (Mares Final) and Sizing Europe (Champion Chase) are favourites for three of the seniors’ championship events, and the Irish own the Bumper, don’t they.
Team Ireland bust its own previous record (10) with 13 winners in March, and the Gold Cup is currently the only race I can see where an Irish result is not inevitable or nearly so.
Mullins, with Hurricane Fly, Thousand Stars, Boston Bob and Sous les Cieux, is currently hard to match for Festival prospects and that overall picture suggests another potential double-figure tally for Ireland.
Compare the legions in the Mullins’ camp with the singular cohort of favourites, Big Buck’s for Nicholls and Long Run for Henderson, for our own leading stables. And we have the Leopardstown Christmas meeting (December 27-28) to come.
The use of English can be misleading. When Suzy Smith tells us in the Racing Post – and makes headlines for it – that Jordan (2.00 Plumpton) ‘just needs a clear round’ what does she mean?
Is it that, as implied by headlining her, she thinks the mare has only to jump round to win or, more likely that, having got a hurdler as fit as she can at home, she hopes the beast will get round on its fencing debut and go on from there; getting round is ‘just’ what she needs.
Jordan has won over 2m 6f over hurdles so a 3m 2f chase should be within her compass. Mzuri Bay similarly ticks the box in that respect, though failed to make the transition under a different trainer.
It’s A Classic, Dunkelly Castle, Near The Water, Portrait Royale, Rateable Value and Reblis (holds Zimbabwe) have already won chases. I shall side with Reblis but Jordan is ‘big’ at 15.0. She just needs a clear round.
DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 4.5pts win COTSWOLD CHARMER and 1.5pts win (stakes saver) TAFIKA (12.40 Bangor)
BET 5.8pts win (nap) FEATHERINTHEATTIC (1.10 Bangor)
BET 4.7pts win REBLIS, 1.4pts win and place JORDAN (2.00 Plumpton)
BET5.5pts win VICTOR ECHO and 3.1pts win (stakes saver) ROWAN TIGER (2.10 Bangor)
BET 5.4pts win MY MATILDA and 2.9pts win GENTLEMAN JIMMY (2.30 Plumpton)
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