Ante-Post Betting: The Toshiba Irish Champion Hurdle
Ffos Las’ loss could be Leopardstown’s gain as Punjabi may head to Dublin on Sunday week to take on Solwhit. Wayne Bailey takes an early look at the main contenders for this significant Cheltenham trial…
“In my book, Solwhit has reconfirmed his status as a serious Cheltenham contender and he’ll be very difficult to beat here too.”
I was disappointed when the bad weather came and Ffos Las was abandoned on Saturday. The course had resurrected the Welsh Champion Hurdle – a race that had sadly diminished in quality over the years at Chepstow. The good news for me is that the Irish Champion Hurdle at my local track Leopardstown looks set to get a boost and a number of UK raiders appear in the early decs list.
The 2009 Cheltenham Champion Hurdle winner Punjabi was trading just above evens for the Welsh Champion Hurdle before it was abandoned and Nicky Henderson is keen to get a competitive race into the seven-year-old as part of his Cheltenham build-up. He has other options and Haydock or Kelso could be on the cards but as it stands Henderson seems happy to send him to Leopardstown; although he’s still clearly dismayed by the fact that the Ffos Las race won’t be rescheduled, apparently because of funding issues:
“I suppose Ireland would be top of the list. He has been over there before and not done too bad… It’s desperately disappointing that they couldn’t save the Welsh Champion after everybody worked so hard.”
Punjabi’s fifth place out of seven in Cheltenham’s Boylesports International (12th Dec 2009) looks disappointing on paper but I wouldn’t read too much into that performance as the message went out before the race that he’d need the run; and he had previously missed the Fighting Fifth as he wasn’t quite ready. He ran fine overall but just looked a little rusty. This race will tell if he’s retained his ability although the winner of the Boylesports International Celestial Halo is likely to give Ireland a miss and the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton is probably the way to go.
Solwhit will put up a massive challenge and may well go off as favourite. He was somewhat disappointing in the Fighting Fifth but as mentioned before on these pages, the pace was all wrong and I was happy to ignore that form when he went to Leopardstown at Christmas. He duly obliged albeit at a short price and quickened up impressively as soon as Davy Russell gave him some encouragement. In my book, Solwhit has reconfirmed his status as a serious Cheltenham contender and he’ll be very difficult to beat here too.
One of the more interesting entries is Colm Murphy’s Voler La Vedette. I know the guys in Murphy’s yard and regular readers will have heard me mention this mare as a serious hurdler in the past. Murphy was criticised in some quarters for taking the easy option of running her in the mares’ race at Christmas instead of the main hurdle – but the prizemoney was there for the taking and the owners were happy with his decision. This however, could be the first real test for the six-year-old and it will help Murphy decide which path she takes at the Cheltenham Festival. The trainer is not getting over-excited, and told RUK that it would be foolish to write off any of the opposition:
“It’s too hard to say too much yet. They don’t all of a sudden become bad horses, Punjabi and all of them – they’re forgotten horses already…We are just lucky we have the option there with the mares’ race as well. I think it’s probably the obvious one for her at the moment, but the Irish Champion will be a good sighter for us.”
I wouldn’t be interested in backing her at Leopardstown but it will be interesting to see how well she runs nonetheless, and I wonder if she can do anything with her 5lb allowance.
Binocular also has an entry but Henderson hasn’t made any commitment as to where the six-year-old will run next. Personally, I could never see why a big fuss was made about this horse! Since Ascot (December 2008), it’s been one excuse after the other and despite putting in some strong races, he simply hasn’t delivered. I’m keen to take him on again this season.
Sublimity is worth a mention too but has also been somewhat disappointing. He put in a good performance at Christmas when second to Solwhit, but he hasn’t managed to get his head in front in five outings now and cannot be backed with confidence.
I’ll take a look again when the final line-up is clear but as it stands, Solwhit gets the vote.
***
Just to point out that Celestial Halo was second in the Boylesports International. The race was won by Khyber Kim.
Yeah, good spot, I just glanced over it myself.