Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle tips: two for the shortlist

Sunday’s Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle revolves around Idaho Sun on his handicap debut – is Nic Doggett with or against the favourite?

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A BHA mark of 142 for Idaho Sun may prove to be lenient; but at this stage there’s plenty of guesswork and that’s before any physical improvement from him over the past 11 months is taken into account (hasn’t been seen since missing the Cheltenham Festival due to a hind injury).

His bloodless early wins have been franked at a low level, while the horse he beat in an Aintree Grade One – Mydaddypaddy – went on to be third in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle a few months later. But the third The Last Cloud is now only rated in the mid-120s, while the fourth Starmount converted a penalty kick on his next start but was then pulled up in the Grade Two Premier Hurdle at Kelso.

I think it’s also worth remembering that – whilst he may be a different proposition over hurdles – he got a little lost coming down the hill in the Champion Bumper, and though he railed well for sixth after the home turn, he probably won’t get away with any similar big-field rustiness in a race of this nature, especially on ground that might be quicker than ideal.

Is this Aintree handicap the key piece of form for Sunday's race?

One horse that we do know is sure to be on a workable mark is 6-1 chance HARRY LOWES and I think he could be ready to win this first time out. He was very well supported ahead of his second run in a handicap – having won a Bangor novice in-between – at Aintree in April, and ran a cracker finishing in third behind the subsequently disqualified Laafi.

What made that performance even more impressive to me was his ability to jump the second last so well having made a momentum-halting error three out. That came just after getting stuck behind Wandering Ego who was going nowhere, and I think he was probably just a little unsighted at the obstacle. The way he ran on close home suggested that he was an unlucky loser, and his trainer Dan Skelton admitted he felt the same in a recent stable tour.

“I would go so far as saying that if he hadn’t nearly got knocked over he would have won. I think this is a really nice horse that has got progression in him," he said. 

“We need to see that progression, but it is there. He will make a chaser one day, but I feel from what we saw at Aintree that we have got a nice handicap hurdle to win somewhere.”

He’s 4 lb higher here, which looks more than manageable as a scopey sort with lots more improvement to come this season. His point-to-point form reads well (beat Mighty Park in April 2025), he won first time out last season, and he has no issue with good ground, so this looks an ideal time to catch him.

I think he could win this and the The Gerry Feilden at Newbury in a couple of weeks’ time.

Captain Hugo impressed in the Borders last season and is only 5 lb higher here

Recent winners have been well found in the market, though it wasn’t that long ago that we had a spate of winners priced either 28-1 or 33-1, with three of the four coming from off the pace. That might be how last year's Morebattle Hurdle winner CAPTAIN HUGO is ridden and I think he’s capable of much better than he was able to show on his reappearance in the Welsh Champion Hurdle at Chepstow last month.

The yard of Philip Hobbs & Johnson White has been slow to come to hand so far this term, so it was perhaps no surprise that the six-year-old wasn’t really a factor in Wales despite going off at 5-1. He was eventually sixth (beaten 31 lengths), but I think his keenness early on and bid to get into contention turning in probably just caught up with him when they quickened, though you would never have thought he would be sixth given how he looked to be struggling two out.

In hindsight, it was quite an odd run given he was quick enough to win at Haydock less than a year ago, may have followed up at Musselburgh (but for falling three out), and then scored at Kelso; all venues that place quite a bit of emphasis on tactical speed.

White recently explained: “He has come out of the Welsh Champion Hurdle well and the plan is to now go to the Greatwood at Cheltenham with him. He will improve for that run, and I think he will improve for going up the hill at Cheltenham as well.”

His general price of 16-1 looks an overreaction to one muddling performance and he looks a solid each-way angle.

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