Supreme Novices Update: Ballyalton & Garde La Victoire

There were calls, from a select few, last season for The New One to be given a chance in the Supreme. Stamina was evidently not an issue for the Neptune but those with foresight could see The New One’s burst of enviable acceleration being used effectively over two miles. The Supreme is often a race won by a strong stayer and therefore a late switch of target would not have been completely illogical. There were minor concerns about his hurdling technique over the sharper trip but as this son of Kings Theatre showed at Kempton in October and Cheltenham on Saturday, two miles is ideal and had he taken the shorter option last March, the Festival’s opening battle would have been even more thrilling. This time around Ballyalton is a not dissimilar case. He is a proven stayer with abundant class and the necessary speed for two miles. Unlike The New One, whose only test near two miles as a novice was at Newton Abbot over eighteen furlongs, Ballyalton has already tested his credentials over a trip around two miles against a high level of opposition.

This came on Friday at Prestbury Park in what was a much anticipated renewal of the contest previously thrown away by Al Ferof when coming down two out in his Supreme Novice season. In taking on the unbeaten (over hurdles) pair, Garde Le Victoire and Doctor Harper, Ballyalton appeared to have a stiff task, particularly dropping back from the two-miles-six furlongs he faced at Newcastle. Despite the field of nine, this looked to be between the three horses mentioned with the unexposed Cocktails At Dawn on the fringes. In the event the race became a duel as Doctor Harper checked out tamely after racing with the choke out for most of the contest. David Pipe’s five-year-old didn’t appreciate the lack of pace as he pulled his way to the front and his keenness hindered his previously admirable jumping as he dived at the second, flattened the third last and was generally unconvincing. Grade 1 success at the Festival was always a far-fetched notion and this display did little to prove otherwise, yet I would happily forgive this run and would not be quick to write him off in the better novice hurdles away from the spring festivals or even in handicaps.

Prior to Friday’s heat I had, of the three, only entertained Garde La Victoire as a potential candidate for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Convincing victories over Regal Encore and Gone Too Far marked him out as a conceivable successor to Menorah (same connections). Defeat on Friday did little to detract from that notion and he still deserves to be thought of as a leading player. In fact, I fail to see any reason why his reputation should not be enhanced given this was the first loss of his life, to a very talented animal, in race that is unlikely to have suited him. Pulling hard had been a characteristic of his runs so far over hurdles and the absence of pace in Friday’s race showed that off again early on. However, with racing this four-year-old is maturing and such tendencies were less pronounced at Cheltenham as he settled relatively well once the field headed away from the stands. Richard Johnson, on board, always looked confident in behind the leaders and it was only when the pace of the race picked up in the short run downhill to the second last that he was required to do anything other than hold his position.

 

As Garde La Victoire drifted into the lead he seemed to have the favoured outside berth in the run to the final flight where he took off upsides Ballyalton. Sadly, for the Hobbs team, his rival was just marginally quicker away from the flight and Richard Johnson was unable to get his mount back on terms up the hill, only closing in once shifted to the rail in the last 50 yards, a manoeuvre that could have been played earlier.

Ballyalton is two years Garde La Victoire’s senior, hence with natural development and further experience it is not difficult to envisage a reversal of the form in future but considering their apparent targets and long term plans any such rematch may have to wait until they are chasing. With the emphasis firmly placed on speed, one may have expected the Kapgarde gelding excel and prove too much for stouter opponent. His failure to maintain his unbeaten record could worry his supporters as could his jumping which, whilst not slow and certainly not enough to make one look elsewhere for the Festival, is not his strength and a lack of exuberance over his obstacles might hold Garde La Victoire back at the highest level. I would not be so concerned as he has ample time for improvement, although in fairness his jumping has hardly held him back up to now, and he is unlikely to face many more rivals of the same calibre as Ballyalton, even in the Supreme.

Ian Williams’ charge arrived at Cheltenham off the back of a rather overlooked performance at Newcastle. The race was not under-analysed but, and I was as guilty as anyone, he was not afforded the credit he deserved for beating one of the brightest prospects in training. The spotlight was focused on Oscar Rock, the lack of a decisive move made by his rider and the irrefutable nous of the eighteen times Champion Jockey on board Ballyalton. Why Oscar Rock lost was more important than why Ballyalton won. Following Friday’s effort, that can now be looked upon as just a high class effort from an extremely high class horse and defeat for Oscar Rock has become far easier to accept.

The natural assumption that Ballyalton would lack the speed of Garde La Victoire and even Doctor Harper stemmed from his last run coming over two-miles-and-six furlongs. He was still well fancied for the race at Cheltenham given the expected pace and the stiff nature of the track but when any sort of gallop failed to materialise it looked as if the race would go against him. Such an assumption, however, ignored the slowly run nature of the race at Newcastle as the extended trip became something of a speed test and a smart use of Ballyalton’s turn of foot before the last allowed him to finish on top. This intelligent use of the imposing gelding’s attributes was again present on Friday as he saw off another highly thought of adversary in a sprint up the famous hill.

In spite of Ballyalton’s greater experience he too found the opening dawdle against him and he was just lit up after jumping the second which could have been detrimental but fortunately the presence of his stablemate allowed him to settle quickly as he dropped in behind. As it had been in his three previous goes over hurdles, his jumping was fluent and economical apart from at the fifth where a combination of his blundering, often wayward, stablemate Ghost Of A Smile and the resulting swinging hurdle saw him guess at the flight, briefly halting his momentum. It was an easily forgivable mistake that would have been costly in a truly run affair, but on this occasion he avoided any significant loss of ground and the error had little bearing on the race. It did cause Ballyalton to give the next hurdle plenty of daylight which just slowed him down a little but McCoy quickly picked the horse up again. As the main protagonists came to the fore McCoy allowed his mount a clear sight at the second last at which a quick, straight leap saw him take a share of the four way lead until he and Garde La Victoire quickened clear off the final bend. Ballyalton was held together to maintain parity with his Hobbs trained rival before McCoy threw everything at him from the last after another fast and fluent jump. He managed to put a length between himself and his pursuer until the resilient four-year-old rallied along the rail. The runner-up got to within a neck at the line but McCoy seemed happy he had the race won.

Having failed to win his first and only start over hurdles last season Ballyalton has become arguably the surprise package of this season. He has lowered the colours of two of Britain’s best hopes for Festival glory in the novice hurdling division and following Friday’s stylish victory he has rightly made his way to the top of Cheltenham’s antepost lists. The fact the race was falsely run makes it tough to be too dogmatic about the race and its consequences but combine that with the defeat of Oscar Rock, albeit in a similarly slowly run affair, and the son of Pierre is easy to get excited about. He will be seven in March which is quite advanced in age for a novice hurdler and chances are he will not have the use of the Champion jockey at the Festival. These may be held against him but it would be folly to rule out further progress especially when faced with a searching gallop. The Tolworth and the Challow have been mentioned as possible next ports of call in a campaign geared around the Neptune. That will reduce the chances of him appearing in these pages any time soon, though if he does take in the Tolworth and if his trainer has a change of heart he will be a worthy addition to the Supreme reckoning.