Freezing temperatures and snow are two forecasts which bring
dread to those within racing. Sadly, that is what we face and informative cards
at Newbury, Wincanton and Taunton are all under threat this week whilst the
highest profile meetings on Saturday, at Ascot and Haydock, are also in danger
with the loss of the Supreme Novices’ Trial hurdle a real possibility. The
Grade 1 Victor Chandler Chase may be a more pressing issue but that will, no
doubt, be rearranged, probably on Cheltenham Trials day, whereas the Supreme
trial will just be lost and it is events such as these which interest me most
in the build up to the Festival. I hope I am being unnecessarily pessimistic
and the frost covers will do their job but I find it hard to believe that racing
will be unaffected. Fortunately, we did nearly manage a full, if slightly
uninspiring, programme this weekend (only Fakenham failed to beat the weather)
and the highlight, in terms of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle build up, came on Friday at Huntingdon.
My Tent Or Yours
has been highly touted ever since his bumper debut and he looked a potential
Supreme Novice even before his hurdling exploits. The pace and class he exhibited
in bumpers, along with his grade 1 form marked him out as strong candidate,
then after his hurdling debut, where he defeated subsequent grade 1 winning hurdler Taquin Du
Seuil he was rightly among the favourites for Cheltenham’s curtain raiser. His next run at Newbury could
be described, harshly in my view, as a blip but there were positives to be
garnered from it, especially the improvement in his jumping, and ensuing events
have demonstrated that this run was merely a means to an end. In order to
qualify for the valuable Betfair Handicap Hurdle, at Newbury in February, My
Tent Or Yours had to have run three times over hurdles prior to January 13th.
It was clear before the race at Newbury that Henderson would have preferred not to
run him, and he would probably have pulled him out on that ground had there not
been this ‘plan’ but in order to get a third run in, he had to run that day. As
a result, McCoy was hardly aggressive once he knew the winner was not for
catching, he had future targets in mind, the most imminent being his third run
which was to come at Huntingdon just thirteen days later. This was no ‘gimme’, with
a pair of high class bumper performers, namely Population and Royal Guardsman, up
against him, as well as God’s Own, an impressive winning debutant over hurdles.
Population and Royal Guardsman had been disappointing on their hurdling debuts
for different reasons but more was expected on Friday, however neither of them,
nor any of his other rivals, were capable of giving meaningful opposition to AP
McCoy’s mount.
My Tent Or Yours, as was the case on his two previous starts
this season, was consciously held up in rear by McCoy. Under
restraint, he was keen again and he pulled his way into midfield almost
immediately. Nicky Henderson said after the race that he is concerned about his
charge not using his energy in the right way and again here he travelled
noticeably strongly but unlike Newbury, McCoy let My Tent Or Yours take him
forward. He was eventually taken to the front on the approach to three out and
from then on the race looked in safe keeping.
Royal Guardsman was again bitterly disappointing here, with
the change of trainer seemingly doing him no favours. It could be that they are
struggling to get him fit and he needed his first two runs of the season, in
which case it is possible to give him one more chance. I hope he can get back
to his bumper form as he treated two high class rivals, Atlantic Roller and
Supreme second favourite River Maigue, with contempt at Ascot last season. He
should really be a novice hurdler worth following. As should Population, who
has recovered from whatever ailed him at Cheltenham and he put in a much more
encouraging performance this weekend. We should see improvement from him on better ground
as, like My Tent Or Yours, he showed plenty of pace in bumpers.
This was a more than reasonable novices' hurdle and connections
of My Tent Or Yours can only take positives from it. In comparison to his
hurdling debut, where his jumping was sloppy, he hurdled quickly and barely
touched a flight. The only jump one could possibly question was at the final
hurdle but he was being eased up almost as soon as he crossed the second last,
therefore running down that one obstacle was completely excusable. This
performance put him back on track for the Supreme, a track I doubt he was ever
off, and nothing this side of the Irish Sea likely to head for the Supreme has left
such a striking impression. I would be surprised if there were many faster
national hunt horses in training and assuming the ground isn’t heavy, as it was
on his last unsuccessful trip to Newbury, I can’t see anything in the entries
for the Betfair Hurdle being able to live with him. He is deservedly favourite
for that, as I type, and his price for the Supreme can only contract with a
strong showing there. My Tent Or Yours still appears to be underestimated by a
number of firms with double figure prices widely available.
The one concern around him, which has recently
arisen, is the high profile acquisition of Supreme Novices’ favourite, Jezki,
by JP McManus. Some have suggested this is a sign that he does not fancy what
he already has for the Supreme and or that it increases the likelihood of My
Tent Or Yours missing the race, in favour of a tilt at the Neptune or Aintree. I
take the view that McManus enjoys having a clutch of top class horses, he doesn’t
seem to mind running more than one in the best races, and he already has
experience of Jezki’s family with the likes of Jered and Jenari proving successful
purchases. It could be described as a no-brainer for a man in his position. I also struggle to believe that My Tent Or Yours will stay the Neptune
trip, or at least be anywhere near as good over it. Hence, that option is defunct,
while McManus has used the Betfair Hurdle as a stepping stone to the Supreme
before, with both Get Me Out Of Here and Darlan going on to fill the runners-up
berth at Cheltenham, as such there should be no issue with repeating such a
feat, just the hope of going one better in March. Nicky Henderson has been convinced
since the start of the season that this son of Desert Prince is his best novice
hurdle prospect, thus it will take some serious persuasion for him not to run
this Supreme Novices’ Hurdle aspirant at Cheltenham.
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