JPR One primed for Haldon Gold Cup defence

Brendan Powell believes it would ‘set the tone’ for the season if JPR One could produce a career best and successfully defend his crown in the BetMGM Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter on Friday (November 7), day one of The West Country Weekend. 

The 30-year-old jockey will bid to secure back-to-back wins aboard the Joe Tizzard-trained eight-year-old in the £100,000 Grade Two feature at the Devon track which has attracted a total of 16 entries. 

Last year the John Romans-owned gelding claimed the extended two miles and one-furlong race by three quarters of a length from fellow second-season chaser Djelo, winner of Saturday’s Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby, off a mark of 149.

However, if JPR One is to win the race again this year, he will have to defy a mark of 153, but Powell believes he is more than capable of doing just that and supplying the Milborne Port handler a third successive win in the race as a trainer having also saddled Elixir de Nutz to glory in 2023. 

Powell said: “He is not going into a race like this seriously well-handicapped and so he is going to have to put in a career best off his mark in a competitive race like this, but there is no reason he couldn’t either. 

“He is a horse that runs well fresh, and I think the time to catch him is first time out.

“I schooled him a couple of weeks ago and I’ve sat on him a few times and he seems in good form.

“It would be nice to get a winner like this on the board early on to set the tone for the rest of the season.”

While all bar one of JPR One’s victories have been gained in fields of less than 10 runners, Powell feels that the ground, as opposed to the numbers of runners he will be taking on, will have a greater impact on his chances of victory. 

Powell said: “He is a horse that is a lot better on decent ground. When I walked the track last year it was pretty quick ground and I was pretty happy with that. 

“The race went really smoothly. He jumped, travelled and put the race to bed fairly well. It is always easy when a race goes as smoothly as it did last year. 

“We will be going back again in the same sort of form and, looking at the weather, it will be on the same sort of ground hopefully. 

“It is likely to be a relatively small field, not that he needs it, but it helps, and I think ground is the biggest thing as he needs decent ground. 

“He has run some decent races on soft ground, like when he was third in the Tingle Creek, but he is a horse when you let him down from the back of the second last on soft ground, he hasn’t got the same boot he does on good ground.”

Although Powell insists JPR One is a straightforward individual to ride, he admits that he does have an edge to him, which he feels can be a positive sign. 

Powell added “He is very straightforward to ride, although he can be a bit of a savage in the stable so you would want to have your wits about you. 

“If you stood too close to him, and he was in a bad mood, he could take a chunk out of you, but he is not a bad natured horse in the same breath either. 

“He is a nice horse to ride in a race, but even now and then he will try to catch you out with a buck up the gallop and that is usually a tell-tale sign he is in good form.

“He has done plenty of work and you can always tell when he is in good form as he is bucking at home, and he is doing that at the moment. 

"Hopefully when I get out to the parade ring, and he is kicking rails, that is usually a good sign, so hopefully I will see that."

And while the victory would provide Powell with his biggest success of the season, he believes it would be one well received by the crowd at the Devon venue.

He added: “It has been a good race for myself as I won it for Colin (Tizzard) on Eldorado Allen as well and the horse racing fans in the West Country, at a track like Exeter, always give you a good reception. 

“Joe has won it the last two seasons, and he also won it as a jockey as well on Cue Card. 

“Exeter is a relatively local track to the Tizzard team and it has been a happy hunting ground for them and hopefully it will continue to be on Friday."