The long road to Cheltenham has begun in earnest once again.
While a drier summer than usual has led to many of jump racing’s big guns being
behind schedule, we could well have seen a number of this season’s Festival
winners already. Whether the winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle is among
them is questionable.
There have been notable performances from horses with
realistic Supreme aspirations, although mainly in Ireland where the season gets
going earlier. Minella Foru, a
winner of a particularly competitive point-to-point at Lemonfield, made his
hurdling debut in September. He jumped well and posted a cosy victory over a
strongly fancied, Willie Mullins trained French import. Mullins will know where
he stands with Minella Foru given his enviable abundance of novice hurdle talent
but Eddie Harty’s four-year-old has considerable capacity for improvement, for
all that he has a long way to go to be the next Captain Cee Bee.
Carriganog was
Aidan O’Brien’s first runner over hurdles for some time. Subsequent to an underwhelming
career in bumpers, he was sent to Robbie Power over the summer in order to
teach him how to jump and this son of Shantou delivered two fluent successes
hinting at bigger things. The form of those in behind Carriganog amounts to
very little and he is already being spoken of as a chaser but his quick
hurdling technique and extraordinary trainer make it difficult to surmise just
what level he can reach this season.
Working out which of Willie Mullins’ bumper horses to
concentrate on in terms of the Supreme is hard enough before factoring in the
inevitable imports from the continent and the flat. One such import is Arctic Fire who received quotes for the
Festival opener following his striking Irish debut at Tipperary. Slick jumping
and a decisive turn-of-foot between the last two flights separated him from his
inferior rivals, attributes which bode well for the future. His trainer has so
many options in this division that it would almost be imprudent to earmark any for
a particular Festival target but Arctic Fire is one candidate for Willie
Mullins who should not be required to step up in trip.
The most interesting novice hurdle over two miles this
season and the race most likely to have a bearing on the Cheltenham Festival
curtain raiser in March did come this side of the Irish Sea at Aintree on
Saturday. Despite Champion Bumper winner, Briar Hill heading numerous ante-post
lists for the Supreme, the way he shaped in bumpers and his pedigree point
towards a hurdling campaign over longer distances. As such, for many the
obvious next port of call for this season’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner was
Champion Bumper runner-up, Regal Encore.
Having reportedly schooled well, Saturday’s return to action was eagerly anticipated
and there was enough confidence behind him to be sent off the 8/15 favourite.
Settled in rear by McCoy, who may have expected or at least
hoped for a stronger pace, Regal Encore travelled strongly to three out, having
moved wide on the final turn in for home. Then, probably with education in
mind, McCoy was keen to find cover for much of the straight and only asked for
a serious effort as they approached the last. Regal Encore had already made up
significant ground to get into contention at the last but the winner of the
race, Garde La Victoire, had been given too much rope. McCoy quickly accepted
that they were unable to reach the leader and was far from hard on the son of
Kings Theatre who stayed on encouragingly, gradually closing the gap to the winner
on the run in.
For one among the best in the bumper sphere last season this
might be seen as a disappointing defeat for Anthony Honeyball’s charge, but
there is no reason to write off Regal Encore as a Supreme candidate yet. At Aintree
he appeared to be outpaced by the winner, merely staying on too late as if in
need of further. A step up to two-and-a-half miles would be unlikely to cause
him a problem yet I get the sense a fast run two miles will prove his optimum
for the time being and the Supreme is often a race for strong stayers. His
jumping on Saturday was accurate and with further experience, as well as a more
aggressive ride, it is not difficult to foresee the form being reversed.
There was enough to take from this race to be excited about
his future and the performance was reminiscent of My Tent Or Yours’ defeat at
the hands of Chatterbox last season. Concerned about the soft ground at
Newbury, on a horse who was particularly difficult to settle at the time, McCoy
was at pains to hold My Tent Or Yours up for as long as he could in order to
avoid a hard race with future targets in mind. One of those future targets was
the Betfair Hurdle back at Newbury in February, which he won in handsome
fashion. It is a race that could well suit Regal Encore in time, especially
given the likely progress he will make between now and then after this pleasing
introduction to hurdles.
Based largely on last season’s achievements, the runner-up
on Saturday still seems the more appealing prospect for the Supreme Novices’
Hurdle but that might be doing a disservice to the aforementioned winner, Garde La Victoire. Following a
convincing victory in a junior bumper at Exeter last October, numerous factors
contributed to his absence from the racecourse until this weekend. The son of
Kapgarde was understandably underestimated having come into the race off just one
run in moderate company. Having been so difficult to assess before the race, it
is evident afterwards that he is a talented novice hurdler. This powerful looking
individual pulled hard from the outset but Richard Johnson was able to retain his
position just in behind the leaders before an impressive leap at the fourth
last took him to the front. He had jumped well up until that point, displaying
a reassuring aptitude for hurdles. However, once left alone in the home
straight he lost concentration, becoming clumsy at the last three flights,
offering a glimmer of hope to the favourite in pursuit. Nevertheless, Garde La
Victoire’s laudable attitude allowed him to maintain his advantage as he put
his head down and galloped all the way to the line.
This four-year-old has scope in abundance and given his
hard-pulling tendencies, two miles will surely be his ideal trip. Hence, were
he to make a top novice hurdler this season, his Festival target would be the
Supreme, something that can be said for very few exciting prospects this
season. His trainer Philip Hobbs knows what it takes to win the race, taking
the prize with Menorah in 2010, and if they can curtail his free-going nature
he may well pose a threat on the day. From what little evidence we have of him,
Garde La Victoire looks ready made for fences and I suggest that is where his
future lies. Therefore, were he to make it to Cheltenham in March as a leading
contender it would be a surprise, but certainly not an unwelcome one.
