Cheltenham Review - Friday

Triumph Hurdle

This was a race that didn't excite me greatly beforehand and doesn't excite me greatly afterwards either. They had all been beating each other throughout the season with no clear outstanding candidate emerging. In the end, the race itself produced exactly the same result with Countrywide Flame beating Hisabaat by 3 lengths, who had beaten Countrywide Flame by 3 lengths in the Spring Juvenile at Leopardstown. Shadow Catcher who finished 2nd that day was back in 12th in this. Grumeti had beaten Dodging Bullets an easy length and half in the Dovecote but was only a head in front here. Baby Mix had comfortably beaten Sadler's Risk in the Adonis but the form was reversed here. The list goes on. In short the form looked a muddle before the race and it looks more of a muddle afterwards. The one that had caught my eye before the race was Dodging Bullets and he did so again in the race. He travelled ominously well and looked like the winner at one stage before tiring late on. This was only his second hurdles start and he remains open to significant improvement. However, it is hard to think that any of these will have the same impact in open company as last year's renewal. My instinct is to draw a line through the lot in terms of genuine Grade 1 contenders, much like the RSA last season.

Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle

The potato race was the chosen destination for Irish hotpot Boston Bob but in the end it was the relatively unconsidered but unbeaten (in hurdles) Scottish raider Brindisi Breeze who took home the prize. He had been labelled as a soft ground plodder by many, myself included, but he proved here that he is nothing of the sort. He sat handy, took it up a fair way out and kept on finding. Where he goes next is a matter of some debate. I gather from others that he isn't the biggest (regrettably didn't see him in the paddock myself) which would cast a small question mark over him as a potential chaser. He is already a Point winner so it is possible that such fears have been overstated. However, the other alternative is the World Hurdle where the phenomenon that is Big Buck's stands in his way. What is certain is that he deserves far more respect than he was afforded in most quarters this year wherever he ends up. I would probably lean towards the chasing option because his running style will suit Big Buck's perfectly. Big Buck's has been forced to make his own running from some way out in the past two World Hurdles which has not been ideal. As we have seen in the past (most notably at Aintree last year) he is far more impressive when another horse brings him clear of the pack. I fear that Brindisi Breeze would perform that role to perfection.

My concern with the form is that I find it difficult to accept that Boston Bob is as slow as he looked here. I had backed him at 7/2 a week or so before the race and was convinced that he was a 6/4 shot if he turned up. In the end he was backed into an SP of 6/5, too short, but an indication of the regard in which he is held. It is not the fact that he was beaten that is a concern but the manner in which he was beaten. For a horse for whom the Neptune was under strong consideration, he displayed a worrying lack of pace throughout the contest, never really travelling with any great fluency. He made up his ground from the rear despite not having the best of runs to challenge at the last, slightly missed it, and was never going to get on top from there on in. I am not saying that he definitely is better than this, but I would be surprised if he isn't. It might be that he needs softer ground to show his best (and therefore looked outpaced on good) but I just wonder whether he was a little below par. Some have suggested that he didn't look fantastic in the paddock (again I didn't see him myself) which may be one answer. It seems strange that a horse that had supposedly worked so well with the likes of Hurricane Fly and Quevega, and was strongly considered for the 2m5f Neptune, was made to look a bit slow by proper stayers in a 3m contest such as this. However, it is important not to detract from the winner, who was ultimately well on top at the line, but I wouldn't be dismissing Boston Bob just yet either.

Gold Cup

I had this one down as a two horse race for a long time with Long Run and Kauto Star seemingly comfortably clear of the pack. After the late injury scare with Kauto Star, which could hardly have come at a worse time, and Long Run being only workmanlike in his prep (and having a hard enough race as a result) there was a sense that a shock might be on the cards. I had no opinion strong enough to justify a bet but equally I was sufficiently deterred not to be piling into the favourite and was instead happy to let my post King George bet (optimistically) ride on Kauto Star. 

The very fact that Kauto Star was there to take his chance was probably the highlight of the race. He was applauded into the pre-parade, he was cheered into the paddock, clapped around the paddock, cheered onto the course and down to the start. Everywhere he went the vocal praise from his adoring public followed. But the race did not go to plan. I, like many, felt predominantly a crushing sense of anti-climax. Kauto Star was sensibly pulled up early by Ruby Walsh which robbed the race of its star attraction and I must confess to spending longer watching Kauto Star canter steadily back to the horsewalk than watching the rest of the race unfold. This sense of disappointment was only increased post race when I am sure I was not alone in thinking 'if only'. If Kauto Star had been able to reproduce his Betfair or King George form a 3rd Gold Cup would have been his. If. 

As the race developed, Long Run appeared to be moving as well as anything but The Giant Bolster and Time For Rupert still being at the head of affairs turning down the hill was a strange site to behold. It certainly didn't quite evoke memories of the fantastic sight of Kauto Star, Denman and Imperial Commander storming down the hill together with Long Run in hot pursuit just 12 months ago. Nevertheless, there they were and there The Giant Bolster would stay. Time For Rupert dropped away and Long Run looked to have the race at his mercy once more. However, clinging on to their coat tails under an inspired AP McCoy was the rather uninspiring Synchronised. He was outpaced throughout but kept on fighting and kept on finding for McCoy's urgings. I commented that he would win coming down the hill as he was still in touch and was sure to come back up it strongest of all, and so it proved. Long Run didn't storm away as he had done last year, The Giant Bolster kept on but a slow jump at the last opened the door for Synchronised who stormed up the hill to win going away. 

It is hard to argue that it was a vintage renewal with horses all over the place to hold the form down. However, if we were not going to be treated to a vintage renewal to match those of previous years then I am delighted that AP McCoy, Jonjo O'Neill and JP McManus were treated to Gold Cup glory. It would be impossible to name a jockey, a trainer and, in particular, an owner who deserve it more. The fact that the three could do it together (as they had with Don't Push It in the Grand National) was a marvellous result.

There can be little doubt that the era of great staying chasers is drawing to a close, and might even be at an end should Kauto Star not reappear next season, but more of that later. In many ways, the result merely emphasised just how good the likes of Kauto Star and Denman have been. It has become the norm for the Gold Cup winner to record a rating in excess of 180 in victory but this is not 'the norm', and nor should it be treated as such. These are exceptional horses that we have enjoyed over the past few years and a return to normality was an inevitability. Their like do not come around very often and the fact that we have been blessed with two (possibly more) of them at once is a special thing. We cannot expect to have another ready to take their place when they bow out.

It is hard to see Synchronised as a dual Gold Cup winner, especially as he doesn't have age on his side (will be 10 next year). The questions for next year's Gold Cup appear to be will Long Run recapture his form at 8? Can The Giant Bolster improve again? Or will the novices led by Sir Des Champs and Bobs Worth be the key contenders? The market has the answer to the last question answered as an emphatic yes already with Sir Des Champs the general 6/1 favourite and Bobs Worth next best at 8/1. I am inclined to agree and my personal preference would be the former who looks a touch classier and promises to stay well, though that is a question he still has to answer definitively. As a result, there appears little value in his price. 

Next season looks an open renewal at this stage and it is quite possible that we are entering a lull in the staying chase division. After the efforts of Denman and Kauto Star, two legends of the game, this is hardly surprising. It might be that something emerges from the pack to stake their claim but I wouldn't count on it. The law of averages says we are due a period of moderate winners. I don't begrudge him his success (in fact quite the opposite) but Synchronised is possibly the first name on that list. There may be at least a couple more to follow.