Road To Cheltenham: Hiddenvalley Lake has Festival potential

It’s fortunate that there’s anything to write about this week, given the frosty grip that winter currently exerts on Britain and Ireland. Cheltenham and Doncaster managed to start but not finish their intended two-day fixtures, and Cork managed to get away with it on Sunday. Otherwise, what should have been an informative week has been lost or postponed.

Britain’s lost graded races will remain so, with the British Horseracing Authority concluding that sufficient alternatives exist in their calendar whereas Ireland – with her trimmer fixture list – plans to reschedule Saturday’s Punchestown card on Monday, rather than seven days sooner as was first planned.

Other Irish meetings may yet be restaged in new positions, so despite the ongoing bleak forecast, there should still be some significant pre-Christmas action to discuss this time next week.

Energumene enjoyed a public schooling session masquerading as a race in the Grade Two Hilly Way last Sunday. The 1/9 favourite was unchallenged from start to finish, establishing a clear lead from flag-fall, and managed not to make any serious errors.

It was not a performance that merited rave reviews, although they inevitably followed – along with bookmakers taking the opportunity to shorten the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase titleholder to a best price of Even money. It’s also reflective of the existing mid-December snapshot that says this contest is a match between him and Edwardstone.

Both trainer Willie Mullins and rider Paul Townend were more realistic in their assessments of the winner’s performance, however.

Talking to Racing TV’s Gary O’Brien in the Cork winner’s enclosure, Mullins voluntarily highlighted a (relatively) notable in-running moment when “coming past the winning post… his eye caught something, whether it was the gate here, and he wouldn’t change his leg and then crossing the road, he was still all wrong going to the fence past here”. “But once he got over that, he got racing down the back again and I was happy enough with him,” he concluded.

It was probably something and nothing from a horse who hadn’t raced for 229 days and was bored by the standard of his opposition, but it did mean he leant off the bend before heading out into the country and towards the fifth fence. His jumping was also not at its most fluent – he got in close four times, making a minor error at the sixth and brushing through the last.

Townend commented: “He was idle enough, actually. At times, in front, he had a look around him. [He] put down once or twice when I was expecting him to come. But look, he’s a year older and we’ve been trying to hold him up [in previous races] and [yet were] making the running then today. But when I wanted him, he was there and any time I gave him half a squeeze he came alive underneath me.”

The race was run very differently to 12 months ago, when Energumene was taken on at a rollicking pace by Notebook and broke him three fences from home. Here, the same opposing connections of Henry de Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore were far more wary, meaning Epson Du Houx sat in second throughout.

That’s not to say the runner-up could have laid down a challenge similar to that of his stable companion – he looked stretched even as things were, reaching for the seventh and making a couple of other errors. Born By The Sea was utterly uncompetitive at too short a trip and jumped left, whilst sadly Master McShee – burdened, like the winner, with a Grade One penalty – jumped indifferently and broke a blood vessel.

However, the contrasting styles of victory in those back-to-back Cork victories served to underline a point that both Mullins and Townend mentioned when asked by Gary O’Brien to consider which device – making the running or holding him up – shows Energumene in his best light. “It depends on the opposition,” Mullins replied. “I imagine we’ll just change tactics, as we go from race to race, depending on what the opposition is.” Tactical versatility is a powerful asset.

The trainer plans to see how Energumene recovers from this race prior to deciding whether he might reappear quickly over Christmas – unlikely, based on the typical Closutton modus operandi with an elite horse – or have another go at the Clarence House, or contest the Dublin Racing Festival.

“He was fit enough. He’s a horse who works himself. He’s a horse you don’t have to work – he’s keen, he loves his job,” Mullins said, stopping himself only slightly short of comparing his attitude to that of the utterly dependable Un De Sceaux. “He’s of that nature. He likes getting on about the job, every morning.”

That means Energumene is unlikely to encounter Britain’s newly pre-eminent two-mile chaser until the Cheltenham Festival because Edwardstone probably has the Desert Orchid and Game Spirit Chases on his agenda. “He’s going to be one we won’t look forward to taking on!” Mullins admitted, acknowledging the Alan King-trained chaser’s prowess in the Tingle Creek.

This encounter presents a fascinating tactical match-up between two strong stayers at two miles. Edwardstone may perhaps be less tactically versatile than Energumene in that he has never yet made his own running – albeit he went on four out when winning the Kingmaker last season. However, I do think he has a realistic claim to testing the ante-post favourite in the scenario I had thought Shishkin might have done last March.

The Champion Chase fell apart around Energumene, with Shishkin never travelling from the outset, the winner’s stablemate Chacun Pour Soi unseating Patrick Mullins five out, veteran Politologue retired immediately after the race and titleholder Put The Kettle On reprising her season-long underachievement. That left Envoi Allen, who belted two out, and Funambule Sivola, who picked up the pieces for second without threatening.

However, the time was still a substantial one in the deteriorating conditions, so the form can’t be utterly unpicked. You can, however, consider the fact that Energumene only got halfway up the second-last obstacle. It’s the tricky fence that immediately follows a left-handed bend just as a race begins to unwind. The winner’s tendency to adjust right has long made me think that was an area of vulnerability if a rival was good enough to place him under pressure when encountering it.

They weren’t and he wasn’t, of course. In fact, his low trajectory merely resulted in a minor jolt on landing. Indeed, Energumene has never yet looked like falling – not even when he ploughed through the second last when beating Chacun Pour Soi at Punchestown in April. But I’d love to see what happens if he and Edwardstone turn for home together next March.

Energumene’s lesser-spotted stable companion Ferny Hollow won’t be with them, of course, as it was announced that he had suffered a campaign-ending setback for the third season running. He was declared for the Fortria Chase last month, only to be withdrawn in the morning due to the ground being unsuitably quick, but did not appear among the Hilly Way entries.

Then on the Nick Luck Daily podcast last Friday, Cheveley Park Stud director Richard Thompson confessed to a hind tendon problem. “Willie was starting to work him a bit harder because of running over the Christmas period and he obviously couldn’t take it,” he said. “We always felt with Ferny that he was delicate and it wasn’t a home run to get him back on the course because of what’s happened the past couple of years.”

Thompson rightly reflected on what the thwarted seven-year-old has already achieved – success in the Festival bumper in 2020 and a highly promising Grade One triumph at Leopardstown as a novice chaser. Ferny Hollow’s defeat of Bob Olinger on their mutual hurdling debut also merits mention as the runner-up went on to be untouchable that season whilst his conqueror retired hurt, yet it would eventually be announced via means beyond the control of the Closutton Order.

Sadly, it’s now hard to imagine Ferny Hollow ever taking a place at the top table – if indeed those closest to him decide to persist with him as a racehorse. What a shame.

“We can look at the Mares’ Hurdle as well – that’s always another option,” Henry de Bromhead dropped out whilst updating Racing TV’s Gary O’Brien about Honeysuckle. The trainer couldn’t prevent a mischievous smile creeping into his features, in the knowledge of the #outrage he’d likely just detonated.

He wasn’t wrong. Social media and journalists’ keyboards were instantly aflame. To be fair, there hasn’t been much else for racing fans to carp about recently…

“Not foremost in your mind though, at this stage, I presume?” O’Brien pressed. “No, it would be,” countered de Bromhead before qualifying. “Sorry, ‘foremost’ would be a strong word. It would be very much in my mind. My job is to find the race I think she can win – that’s what I have to do. Now, if connections want to do something else, I’ll wholeheartedly do that as well.”

Of course, owner Kenny Alexander had said only the previous weekend that he would be ruled by de Bromhead on Honeysuckle’s campaign, so the prospect of the dual Champion Hurdle heroine foregoing the chance to become only the sixth horse in history to win the prestigious Cheltenham event three times was suddenly very real. Bookmakers accordingly trimmed her from 5/1 to a best-priced 11/4 for the Close Brothers David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle.

Step forward Peter Molony, Alexander’s racing manager, to dampen the fire on Monday. “Every option is always explored and open, so it’s no different here to any other year,” he told the Racing Post.

Well, this is true… and yet it’s false, as Morrissey would tell you (before he revealed himself to be right of Attila The Hun). The softer option certainly hung in the air in the prelude to Honeysuckle’s first Champion Hurdle in 2021 but I don’t recall it being mentioned as she was carrying all before her last season. However, Moloney went on to map out the lie of the land as he sees it.

“It makes sense to explore all options; they’re racehorses. It’s not black or white and plans change,” Molony added. “She wears the crown but she’s a racehorse and she’s flesh and blood. We have to do whatever is going to be best by her.

"Ideally that’s the dream [the Champion Hurdle] and she goes and wins three Champion Hurdles but we’ll have to see how things pan out through the season. All options are open and we'd never be afraid of one horse. Constitution Hill is a serious horse but we've known he's a serious horse for quite a while… We’d love to beat him. We want to be the best, but let’s see.

“We have no intention of writing her off,” Molony said. “That was actually probably her best run, rating-wise, in a Hatton’s Grace. That's what the ratings people tell me and she’s come home fit and well, bucking and kicking, so it’s onwards and upwards.”

I don’t know which “ratings people” Molony heard from but it wasn’t, for example, Timeform or Racing Post Ratings who positioned her eight-length defeat of Ronald Pump respectively 4lbs and 3lbs higher. But Molony’s overarching point stands: as I argued last week, her defeat was comparable to her 2019 victory and better than her 2020 scramble. So, there’s no need to go pressing any panic buttons yet even though she undoubtedly lacked zip.

De Bromhead has concluded that a combination of “two and a half [miles], softer ground and good horses just caught us on the day”. Timeform’s standard time for Cheltenham’s Old Course is 4m 46.64 and for Fairyhouse 4m 45.65. Of course, Honeysuckle has won the Mares’ Hurdle before – beating Benie Des Dieux, no less, on that mare’s curtain call – but she might have to face Epatante if pivoting that way in March.

There were only three-and-a-half lengths between the two mares in last season’s Champion Hurdle – and Epatante made a chance-ending error at the last. Plus, Epatante then recorded a career best when upped to 2m4f at Aintree next time out. So, whilst Epatante is undoubtedly a less daunting opponent than Constitution Hill, she might be harder to topple than before.

Nicky Henderson’s pair of star hurdlers are set to clash again at Kempton over Christmas after the British Horseracing Authority confirmed the Bula Hurdle (known by Cheltenham and other iconoclasts as the International) would not be rescheduled.

“She has to,” the trainer told Tom Stanley on Wednesday's Nick Luck Daily podcast, prior to pressing play on his recorded message. “We’ve got no option,” it said. “There is just another idea...” dangled Henderson briefly at one point, before reverse-ferreting and confirming the Christmas Hurdle is the plan.

He has presumably forgotten that Constitution Hill is entered in the Matheson over Christmas… Why enter if it was never a serious consideration, even when events repeatedly conspire to narrow your options? But failing that, if you don’t want to travel to Ireland with a young horse (whom you’ve said is temperamentally bombproof, mind), couldn’t Epatante be supplemented?

There hasn’t been much action in this division in the past seven days, but the two mares who fought out the O’Flynn Group Irish EBF Mares Novice Chase at Cork last Sunday are clearly smart. Impervious jumped past long-time leader Dinoblue at the last to win by three lengths, but the runner-up pulled further clear of the remainder by 14 lengths.

The winner made a couple of minor errors on her way around but stalked the strong-travelling, fluent-jumping leader into the straight. Mark Walsh still appeared confident when checking over his shoulder aboard Dinoblue on landing after the third last, but Brian Hayes got Impervious motoring when asking for a bold jump two out and then switching to the nearside to launch a final, decisive challenge. Impervious jumped the last less cleanly than Dinoblue, but she’d stretched for it with full commitment and got away from it the better.

“It was testament to the mare because she was really long at that. She needed to have as much left in the tank and as much scope as she has,” Hayes said afterwards. “I thought turning in, I was beat. But from the back of the third last, when she wheeled down to the second last, jumped that well and she started to really motor, then I thought when I get upsides Mark [Walsh, on Dinoblue]: I’ve got him now with a good jump.”

Had the runner-up forced Impervious out of position by racing a shade harder, the winner probably wouldn’t have been close enough to catch her in the straight. However, Dinoblue still extended her authority over third-placed Roseys Hollow, whom she’d bettered by a shade under four lengths over the same course and distance last month. Back in fourth, four-year-old Instit – stablemate to Dinoblue – was keen on her first run for 205 days, made a mistake four out and faded.

Impervious was reportedly something of a handful beforehand and trainer Colm Murphy admitted she is “not the easiest to train”, but clearly expects her to build over fences – perhaps upped in trip – on what he described as a stop-start season over hurdles last term. Hayes also confirmed that the mare gives him a totally different feel over the larger obstacles.

“She jumps like a two-miler, she’s so quick through the air, but I was flat out going past the stands here and she did finish very strongly, so two and a half [miles] might be just ideal,” he added.

Nonetheless, she still managed to finish sixth to Dinoblue’s ninth in the Dawn Run at the Festival last March, both having raced too freely early on. The latter weakened before the last and the former hung left after being switched at that hurdle.

Dinoblue then finished a wide-margin place in front of Impervious at Fairyhouse prior to rolling on to Punchestown whereas her opponent took a holiday. When lining up at Cork, both had already won their chase debuts, with Impervious beating the boys at Wexford at the end of October.

Murphy’s mare is now 5/1 second favourite for the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase over 2m 4f next March, which would require her to take on vastly more experienced rivals such as titleholder Elimay, runner-up Pink Legend (of whom more in the intermediate/staying chasers’ section) and recent Clonmel winner Dolcita – none of whom is a novice.

“We’re always hoping to have horses for Cheltenham,” Murphy said of Impervious, before adding in the same breath, “She is for sale if the right offer comes in.”

Ante-post favourite for Cheltenham’s mares’ Grade Two is another novice – one yet to jump a fence competitively. Allegorie De Vassy – a chasing type, no matter how grumpily my Road To Cheltenham co-presenter might receive that term – was entered but not declared alongside stablemate Dinoblue at Cork. Not seen since sustaining “a slab fracture in her hock” towards the end of February when being trained for the Dawn Run, she’s entered in a 2m4f rated novice chase at Navan this Sunday – a fixture that appear to have a squeak against the weather.

The feature Singletons Supervalu Stayers Novice Hurdle turned into something of a sprint rather than a slog over three miles at Cork last Sunday, but the eight-length winner Hiddenvalley Lake still managed to impress as a highly talented stayer in the making.

He made a couple of notable blunders en route, most unhelpfully at the third last as he was angled towards the inside to challenge the duelling leaders Cool Survivor and Monbeg Park. Yet he deftly got his feet out for landing, never looking in danger of falling, and it stilled his momentum only briefly before Rachael Blackmore got him rolling towards the second last.

He was there a little unbalanced when landing in the lead but drew away, sailing over the last and then – in the most impressive moment of his race – immediately finding plenty more for one reminder. Blackmore later said her mount’s mistakes were due to him being “a little bit brave once or twice”. “I think jumping is one of his attributes,” she stressed. “We just have to iron out those little issues.”

The next four home finished in a clump, with the steadily improving Cool Survivor claiming second from recent Punchestown winner Monbeg Park, whose late fade suggested even a falsely run three miles was too far for him.

The 2m3f event Hiddenvalley Lake had won at Naas last month, despite a clumsy jump two out, had already worked out well – with beaten favourite Santonito subsequently scoring in a Clonmel maiden, fifth-placed mare Gaoth Chuil winning at Tramore and even twelfth-placed Chainofconsequence taking a handicap at Limerick.

Prior to that, Hiddenvalley Lake had been grossly unlucky not to win his sole point-to-point start at Ballindenisk last December when carried out by a loose horse just as he was asserting control at the last. Six days later he fetched £200,000 at the Tattersalls horses-in-training sales in Cheltenham. Closely related to a clutch of useful staying chasers – including perhaps the least attractively named horse in history, Louis’ Vac Pouch – he was bound to thrive over a trip.

Significantly, de Bromhead is taking a route to the Albert Bartlett that he knows very well, having trodden it with Monalee, who finished second to Penhill in 2017, and subsequent Gold Cup hero Minella Indo, who won that Grade One Festival hurdle in 2019. That smoothed stepping-stone is the three-mile Grade Three at Clonmel in mid-February, which Monalee won but in which Minella Indo was beaten by a certain Allaho.

I like everything I’ve seen from Hiddenvalley Lake to date, so I’ve backed him at 8/1 for the Albert Bartlett.

Earlier on the same card, stablemate and Rules debutant Arctic Bresil initiated a double for the Henry de Bromhead yard by winning a maiden hurdle in which the first quintet home occupied five of the first six places throughout.

Blackmore allowed the winner to move on in front after a scrappy jump at the fifth and, turning for home, her mount was clearly going much better than his closest attendant, the keen-going 8/11 favourite Mercurey. Both horses got into the bottom of the third-last, but Arctic Bresil raced decisively away whilst Mercurey floundered in an ungainly fashion. The winner was in too close and hit the next, too, but got the last right to come away for a five-and-a-half-length success.

Mercurey – who won a Gowran bumper on debut but was beaten next time at 1/4 at Limerick last March – jumped the last two flights airily. There was promise in behind from Cadatharla (another graduate from Hiddenvalley Lake’s Naas success), who qualified for handicaps with this fourth place and will do better over a longer trip.

De Bromhead pinpointed next month’s Grade Two Moscow Flyer at Punchestown as a likely target, not wishing to rush him for Christmas. “He has a lot of pace, so we’ll stick to two miles,” he added. Deemed a chaser in the making, De Bromhead also revealed that on seeing Arctic Bresil for the first time, his wife Heather had branded him “the image of Sizing John”, the 2017 Gold Cup winner whom they trained as a novice over hurdles and fences.

At Cheltenham last Friday, carrying the colours of his distant relative Altior, Attacca impressed with his jumping – a facet to his game that had markedly improved since his winning debut at Kempton last month. As Ian Bartlett exclaimed in commentary, he “jumps quick, this horse”. Indeed, the speed of his conversion from jumping to running made the critical difference at the final hurdle of the 2m1f National Hunt novices’ event.

Winning rider Nico de Boinville opted to make his own running and enjoyed a clear solo lead until the strong-travelling Master Chewy slipped around his outside to bag the stands’ rail approaching the last. Neither jumped it cleanly, but Attacca was typically swiftly back into stride whilst his rival made a more significant error and landed statically on all fours. As de Boinville had saved plenty up front, Sam Twiston-Davies was unable to make up the deficit his mount lost in error.

This was a decent performance and trainer Nicky Henderson admitted Attacca had gone up “quite considerably” in his estimation, prompting a likely recalibration of his campaign. He’ll step up to 2m4f now, which his trainer deems more within his comfort zone, and the Sidney Banks at Huntingdon in February was identified as a likely target.

Twiston-Davies was a shade frustrated by his mount’s last-flight error, but Master Chewy will clearly be getting off the mark soon. He’d been unfortunate to overjump the last at Ascot previously, coming down when he’d all but clinched that decent contest – which was eventually won by the Henderson-trained Persian Time last month.

Back in third at Cheltenham, hurdle debutant and dual bumper winner Gentle Slopes shaped as in need of a step up in trip, having been outpaced approaching the last but rallying determinedly to snatch third on the line after the front pair had surged clear. He’s scopey good-looker, whose trainer Milton Harris holds in high regard. Don’t overlook him.

Quirky Timeforatune must be trying Paul Nicholls’ patience somewhat, as he typically declined to settle in second-time cheekpieces and a mistake at the second last then put him on the back foot. He’s still a bit gauche and jockey Harry Cobden later reported he was hanging right throughout, so a return to that orientation might suit better. But he still needs to channel his ability.

Irish raider Kiki Badger – a well-held fourth behind Hercule Du Seuil in a Grade Three at Navan previously – hung in there until the straight but was hanging left at the final flight and faded.

Blood Destiny made a winning Irish debut for Willie Mullins at Cork last Sunday – and, although it’s still early enough in the season, Closutton appear to be even longer-suited in this division than in previous seasons.

The trainer admitted afterwards he hadn’t been expecting much from Blood Destiny but acknowledged he’d been absent for his latest piece of work, which jockey Paul Townend had liked. “I didn’t have any faith in him at all – I’d missed his last bit of work and the few bits of work I saw I thought: he wasn’t as good as the horse we paid for,” Mullins admitted.

Townend reported this was the first time he’d actually sat on the horse. “But I’d seen plenty of him [at home],” he added. “He’d had the experience of a run in Auteuil, so I wasn’t afraid to be in front. He didn’t look left or right. He jumped a bit big early when we were going steady, but down the straight he was pinpoint accurate.”

There had been a difference of opinion about tactics, too, with Mullins not wanting Townend to make the running. Yet, as the jockey would later report, Blood Destiny jumped airily when taking a lead from the Joseph O’Brien-trained Libby but became lower and more effective once given his head at the fifth and permitted to front-run. His trainer acknowledged as much: “Paul had lots of confidence in him and when he let him stride on, he jumped those hurdles well.”

Turning for home just over a length in front of Libby, Blood Destiny then eased clear approaching the second last and was merely shaken up to win by five lengths from Sir Allen, an experienced Flat horse debuting over hurdles. Third-placed Teagarden Jazz shaped as though she could have finished closer but stablemate By Your Side ejected Jack Kennedy from the saddle at the third with a fiendish left-handed jink.

In tenth, 200/1 shot Avacian again showed distinct promise for the second time in as many starts over hurdles, with jockey Shane Fitzgerald reporting that he “ran very keen, didn’t settle but stayed on”. Indeed, the horse was still looking to go faster at the second last.

Both Mullins and Townend are, however, at least agreed on following “a Grade One route” with Blood Destiny, who finished second to the Davy Cottin-trained Bo Zenith at Auteuil in April when housed with Gabriel Leenders in France. Asked by Gary O’Brien on Racing TV where Blood Destiny fitted in the Closutton juvenile hierarchy, a smiling Townend said: “I suppose it depends how these juveniles progress, but at the moment, I think he’s close to the top of it.”

O’Brien and Townend were obliquely referring to the outcome of Fairyhouse’s Grade Three Juvenile of two weekends ago, a race run at a crawling pace and completed with a sprint, in which Mullins saddled the first and second.

The winning filly Lossiemouth overcame this slowly run race by quickening away readily from two out where she and stablemate Zarak The Brave had made their challenge either side of Common Practice, who’d just himself taken over in front from long-time leader Aghaboy. She sealed her advantage with a good jump at the last and won by four lengths under Danny Mullins.

By contrast Zarak The Brave, who’d been stuck in a pocket behind Aghaboy for longer than Townend wanted, stuttered into the bottom of the penultimate flight and clouted it. He rallied as Lossiemouth held the upper hand but made a hash of the last, too, and had to accept defeat.

Common Practice was already weakening when almost tripping over the last, enabling Comfort Zone – the recent six-length Navan debutant winner and his stable companion at Joseph O’Brien’s yard – to pass him for third on the run-in, despite himself not jumping the final flight cleanly. This was clearly another improved performance from Galway winner Common Practice, on his return from a six-week break.

Wide-margin Fairyhouse maiden winner Zarak The Brave had form up to two miles when trained on the Flat in France, so it’s reasonable to conclude he wouldn’t have been suited to this slowly-run race. His jumping also needs work.

However, this was only Lossiemouth’s second career start, having previously won at Auteuil in April for her previous trainer, Yannick Fouin, and she did well to win so convincingly – under hands and heels alone – against more experienced rivals.

At Aintree the previous day, Dixon Cove produced a strong staying performance to beat international rivals in the Listed juvenile fillies’ event.

Along with long-time leader Obsessedwithyou, she was gifted a positional advantage from a raggedy start, made mistakes and jumped or ran down some hurdles to her right, but she also responded generously to pressure. All the while in the straight it looked as though she would be swallowed up by the various challengers and, all the time, she pulled out a little bit more. A doughty effort in a first-time tongue-tie.

Gordon Elliott had sent over two fillies from Ireland, who fared very differently. Calico jumped airily at the second and third but also displayed abundant stamina and resolution throughout the straight and was ultimately denied by little more than a length. She continues steadily to improve, but will ultimately need further than 2m 1f.

I doubt Sean Bowen was ever happy on the runner-up’s stable companion Old Victoria because he was chivvying her along on either side of the very first hurdle, which she also jumped awkwardly. She was big at the third and then Bowen was having to niggle her along again after the fifth prior to her weakening quickly even before they turned for home. There must have been a problem, but the BHA’s veterinary officer didn’t find one immediately post-race. A French recruit, she also ran unexpectedly poorly on her debut for Elliott at Down Royal.

Third-placed Isaline De Chandou, a French raider from the yard of Donatien Sourdeau de Beauregard, floated into the race like a good thing under Brian Hughes – travelling strongly and jauntily slipstreaming Dixon Cove in the straight. However, she found far less off the bridle than such conspicuous ability promised. She was trying to concede 5lb all round, but that didn’t appear the cause of her defeat.

Advised 01/12/22: Noble Yeats at 66/1 for the Boodles Gold Cup with William Hill

Advised 01/12/22: Ahoy Senor at 25/1 for the Boodles Gold Cup with various bookmakers