Before the familiar festive feast of fixtures it is worth
touching on the Grade 2 Kennel Gate Novices hurdle run at Ascot last Friday,
where the winner produced an even clearer indication that he will be a leading
player in the 2014 Supreme. There were reasons to be dissatisfied with the race
as a whole but Irving was a
comprehensive winner and appears to have a future bright enough to match his
burgeoning reputation.
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IRVING |
Since his electric display at Taunton, trainer Paul Nicholls
and rider Nick Schofield have barely contained their excitement about this son
of Singspiel. He is demonstrably an exuberant work-horse and fortunately he
translates that to the track. I am generally wary of former flat performers
making the grade in a Supreme and the style of his victory at Ascot on his previous start combined with his history on the
level suggested to me that this was a horse all about speed. He had so far, on
admittedly limited evidence, produced bursts of speed in sprint finishes that
his inferior rivals understandably could not match. Already, Aintree stood out
as a long term goal for Irving, the flat track ideally suited to the flat
recruit. The stamina sapping two mile test of Cheltenham, where thorough
stayers have been able come to the fore, didn’t fit what I saw as being Irving’s
ideal but after his most recent display in demanding conditions off a far from
farcical pace it would be remiss of anyone to use a lack of stamina as an excuse
to oppose him.
Among Irving’s opposition on Friday was Splash Of Ginge, for
Nigel Twiston-Davies, who had set a strong pace when emphatically seeing off a field
of 7 at Aintree last time out and he attempted to make all once again. His
presence meant the race was relatively truly run for a small field novices’
hurdle and it allowed Nick Schofield to settle his potentially keen
five-year-old in rear. Despite flattening the second flight, which in fairness
cost him no momentum, he was fluid over his obstacles and he shapes like a
natural jumper, a point exemplified by the last where his greater aptitude for
the task saw him pick his legs up higher and faster than Prince Siegfried who fell
when upsides, having taken off from the same point. Prince Siegfried showed
significant improvement from his narrow defeat of My Wigwam Or Yours to be in
with a shout before this calamity. He was coming off second best and it is
difficult to be sure how much he would have found after the last, however, assuming
such a heavy fall has not left a mark this was a hugely encouraging effort from
another smart flat recruit to the superlative Bloomfields operation.
Having travelled comfortably throughout, Nick Schofield was
only pressed into action aboard Irving after jumping the penultimate flight as
the aforementioned Prince Siegfried closed the inviting gap Irving was trying
to move into. This posed no real problem as Schofield switched his mount
around Denis O’Regan’s and with a shake of the reins Irving was immediately alongside.
As the pair quickened clear of the eventual second and third Irving seemed to
be in charge of the contest and pulled further clear as he was left in front at
the final obstacle. His notable acceleration had been seen over hurdles before
and again it settled matters in style on Friday yet on this occasion, in a race
that was more than a sprint, he saw the race out strongly beating two rivals
who weren’t stopping. The impression left by Paul Nicholls’ charge must be
mitigated the fall of Prince Siegfried as he surely would have finished within
the final six lengths margin of victory while the same could be said for Volnay
De Thaix who was staying on nicely before being hampered. Of course Irving was
hardly all out himself and without being pressed after the last he could not be tested to his limit.
As an individual, Irving is hard to find fault with. He has
matured with each start and his nickname ‘Concorde’ speaks for itself. Nonetheless,
he is not obliterating his fields and despite Volnay De Thaix having the potential
beforehand, he has yet to face another high class rival or one who could be
considered a Supreme contender. He has done more than enough though and he is
bound to face such a foe(s) if he heads to the Tolworth next. We will learn
even more about him there, or wherever he goes, the listed race at Exeter in
early February may be another viable option (Puffin Billy attempted the double
before taking his chance in the Supreme) and in an open year the 14/1 still
available for the Festival curtain raiser is on the generous side.
Prince Siegfried is probably behind the likes of Mijhaar and
Dubai Prince (entered in the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle at
Leopardstown on Friday) in the Bloomfields novice hurdling pecking order and
the same would be said about Volnay De Thaix
who sits behind the likes of West Wizard and Josses Hill, another classy winner
this week. Like Josses Hill, Volnay De Thaix is very much a raw chaser on looks
and was probably doing well to produce such a promising performance against the
sharp, flat types he faced on Friday. There will have been a tinge of
disappointment given he was backed into odds-on favouritism, the second Judy
Wilson owned novice hurdler defeated last week following Tistory on Wednesday,
but in his two previous efforts over hurdles, while totally dominant, he faced
a set of opponents severely lacking in ability. This was evidently not the case
at Ascot and as the pace picked up in the straight he found it tough going
under Barry Geraghty, coming off the bridle earlier than his rivals, patently lacking
the speed of Irving and Prince Siegfried. His jumping did, however, stand up
under pressure which bodes well for the future. He would have finished considerably
more than a short head in front of Splash Of Ginge (to whom he was giving three
pounds) were it not for being hampered and the Secret Singer gelding ran very
much as if further would suit him in this better company. That does not make
him a Neptune contender but he should still hold his own over intermediate
trips, particularly if they try to exploit his handicap mark, before being sent
over fences, perhaps next season, when he will have hopefully grown up (described
as a “big baby” by connections after his first two runs in this country) and in that sphere Volnay
De Thaix will prove an even more exciting prospect.
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| VOLNAY DE THAIX |
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