CHELTENHAM

15 March 2007

Good To Soft

2:00 Jewson Novices' Handicap Chase (Listed Race) (Class 1) (5yo+) 17 fences 2m5f

[off 2:00] £45,616.00, £17,112.00, £8,568.00, £4,272.00, £2,144.00, £1,072.00

1 L´Antartique (FR) Ferdy Murphy 7 10-11 G Lee 20/1 133 146 146

2 2 Bob Hall (IRE) Jonjo O´Neill 6 10-9 t Noel Fehily 10/1 131 142 142

3 2½ Wee Robbie N J Gifford 7 10-13 Leighton Aspell 20/1 135 144 144

4 4 Rasharrow (IRE) L Lungo 8 10-10 Keith Mercer 14/1 132 137 137

5 1¼ Vic Venturi (IRE) Philip Fenton 7 10-12 Andrew J McNamara 14/1 134 138 137

6 1 Kings Advocate (IRE) T J Taaffe 7 10-12 B J Geraghty 9/1 134 137 136

7 1 New Little Bric (FR) P F Nicholls 6 11-10 R Walsh 7/2F 146 148 147

8 3½ Milan Deux Mille (FR) D E Pipe 5 10-13 Tom Malone(3) 50/1 144 137 136

9 3 Flying Enterprise (IRE) Miss Venetia Williams 7 10-9 Liam Treadwell(3) 16/1 134 130 129

10 8 Dictum (GER) Mrs Susan Nock 9 10-12 Tom Scudamore 25/1 134 122 121

11 3½ Knight Legend (IRE) Mrs John Harrington 8 11-3 R M Power 22/1 139 124 122

12 8 Aztec Warrior (IRE) Miss H C Knight 6 11-1 D N Russell 20/1 137 114 112

13 3 Phar Bleu (FR) P F Nicholls 6 10-9 Liam Heard(3) 50/1 134 108 106

F Chief Yeoman Miss Venetia Williams 7 10-12 Sam Thomas 16/1 134 — —

F Limited Edition (IRE) Carl Llewellyn 9 10-13 Mick Fitzgerald 10/1 135 — —

UR Pole Star Evan Williams 9 11-1 p Paul Moloney 25/1 137 — —

PU Desert Air (JPN) D E Pipe 8 10-9 tp Andrew Glassonbury(5) 50/1 136 — —

PU King Revo (IRE) P C Haslam 7 10-10 A P McCoy 5/1 132 — —

PU Tora Bora (GER) B G Powell 5 10-12 p Timmy Murphy 33/1 140 — —

19 ran TIME 5m 10.70s (slow by 2.70s) TOTAL SP 127%

NON RUNNER: Flintoff (USA)

1st OWNER: Mrs A N Durkan BRED: T Picard And Phillipe De Maeseneire TRAINER: Ferdy Murphy

2nd OWNER: John P McManus

3rd OWNER: P H Betts (holdings) Ltd

TOTE WIN £26.20 PL £4.10, £3.10, £4.90, £2.90; Ex £316.50; CSF £195.04; TRICAST £4052.33Part won. Pool: £7,466.84 - 0.10 winning units. Pool of £6,719.43 carried over to Saturday 17th March. TRIFECTA £5300.80 Part won. Pool: £7,466.84 - 0.10 winning units. Pool of £6,719.43 carried over to Saturday 17th March.

The first race of the meeting run on the New Course, and the time, though around 8 seconds slower than that recorded by Reveillez a year ago, was only a couple of seconds slower than standard, suggested that the ground was a bit quicker than the officialgood to soft. This was the third running of this novices' handicap, and the classiest yet, with a rating of 131 required simply to make the cut. It was characterised by some novicey jumping, but that's understandable with a big field of relatively inexperienced chasers racing at such a pace.

L'ANTARTIQUE was among the more patiently ridden members of the field and jumped soundly by and large. He was carried back a little when the front-running Pole Star unseated his rider at the eleventh, but he was not going that well at the time and it made little difference. It wasn't until after three out that L'Antartique started to get to the leaders, but he was in front approaching the last and stayed on well up the hill. He had apparently not been a natural when he started chasing, and he wasn't foot-perfect when second to the SunAlliance disappointment Dom D'Orgeval at Hexham, but this was a good effort and earned him a trip to Aintree for a similar event.

Bottom-weight Bob Hall, having just hisfourth run over fences, stayed on up the hill for a good second, ahead of Wee Robbie, who still hasn't won over fences but has had some stiff tasks and ran a cracking race, improving down the far side and being right in the thick of it throughout thelast mile. If Wee Robbie loses his novice status at this stage of the season connections will want it to be for a decent prize. If he still hasn't won at the start of next season there will be no shortage of opportunities for him.

Rasharrow had good festival form and looked on a very handy mark. He ran really well, but there was no excuse.

Vic Venturi did best of the Irish challengers. He had a good early position, lost it, and then stayed on again up the hill as expected.

His compatriotKings Advocate probably ran as well as he was entitled to, but topweight New Little Bric was a bit disappointing, although not beaten that far. Beaten only once before over fences and running over his ideal trip, New Little Bric was never far away but came under strong pressure turning for home and was tired and wandering from two out.

Milan Deux Mille, now 16lb higher than when winning the last of four successive races over fences, is inclined to pull hard and so was anchored at the back of the field, well detached in last. However, he then made rapid headway towards the end of the back straight and jumped to the front six out. He was beaten quickly after three out and needs to settle better and come back down a few pounds in the handicap, but he would be interesting tried at 2m.

Flying Enterprise was below form again. He had no real excuse this time, but Dictum can be forgiven as the ground wouldn't have been soft enough for him.

Knight Legend hardly jumped a fence and never got in contention. Nor did Aztec Warrior, who was entitled to finish close to New Little Bric on Sandown form.

Limited Edition was a close third and still going well enough when he came down at the fourth-last, hampering Chief Yeoman,who had yet to be asked a question but was immediately in trouble. It was still a fair way out, but both might well have been involved.

ASCOT 17 February 2007 Good To Soft

1:45 John Smith's Reynoldstown Novices' Chase Grade 2 (Class 1) (5yo+) 20 fences 3m

[off 1:45] £22,808.00, £8,556.00, £4,284.00, £2,136.00, £1,072.00, £536.00

1 Gungadu P F Nicholls 7 11-10 R Walsh 4/7F 97 —

2 4 Wee Robbie N J Gifford 7 11-4 Leighton Aspell 33/1 120 87 —

3 3½ Jaunty Times H D Daly 7 11-8 Mark Bradburne 16/1 136 88 —

4 5 According To John (IRE) N G Richards 7 11-8 Tony Dobbin 7/1 84 —

5 7 Over The Creek D E Pipe 8 11-4 Timmy Murphy 7/2 74 —

6 33 Imperial Sun (IRE) D T Hughes 8 11-8 v1 R Loughran 33/1 49 —

7 13 In Accord H D Daly 8 11-4 Mr P Callaghan 33/1 129 33 —

7 ran TIME 6m 16.30s (slow by 30.30s) TOTAL SP 113%

1st OWNER: Mrs M Findlay & P K Barber BRED: Mrs Hugh Maitland-Jones TRAINER: P F Nicholls

2nd OWNER: P H Betts (holdings) Ltd

3rd OWNER: J B Sumner

TOTE WIN £1.50 PL £1.10, £6.20; Ex £31.10; CSF £21.74

One of the leading novice chases in the calendar, restored to its home after slumming it at Lingfield recently. It has a mixed history, but with some classy scorers in Beau, Bacchanal, Keen Leader and Our Vic.

While there was a lack of strength in depth to this running, GUNGADU left the strong impression that he will uphold this Grade 2 form in time as he is still far from the finished article physically at the age of seven. Detractors will point to an uncontested lead and a Kauto Star-like blunder at the replacement fence for what used to be the water to add to his list of races where he throws in a fence-busting leap. Ruby Walsh blamed the BBC mobile camera on the service-road as a distraction. Perhaps more worrying was that Gungadu, having hung right at Cheltenham last October, showed a tendency to go left here, which got more pronounced under pressure in the home straight.

The winner heads back to Cheltenham for the 4m NH Chase for amateur riders and will be many punters idea of one of the meeting's bankers. He will be particularly short for a horse who makes mistakes and has stamina to prove. His chasing form still has to be franked, which is no fault of his own, and with Wee Robbie getting closer than at Newbury last time, this form is open to question even though Gungadu overcame a 6lb penalty.

Wee Robbie, who was doing plenty early racing on the outside of the pack at the modest pace, was the only one to put any pressure on Gungadu in the last mile, and considering he had been so enthusiastic and fresh early, he showed a good attitude in keeping up the gallop to suggest he is finally finding his feet over fences.

Jaunty Times lived up to his name going to post and whipped round unseating his rider before getting a lead down. This run suggests he is going to be shy of this level and the handicapper hit him hard with a 10lb rise for his near Flat-race win at Huntingdon last time to make life particularly difficult.

According To John could never land a blow but was plugging on to suggest he could have done with a stronger pace. He had been similarly routed in the Feltham last time and again his future is going to depend how the handicapper assesses him.

Over The Creek blundered at a vital stage inside the lastmile in the tricky run of fences out of Swinley Bottom. He took time to recover and was not given a hard time from the home turn, but this good staying hurdler has got off on the wrong foot over fences with his debut fall and did not look that confident here. He could be more suited by better ground in the spring.

Imperial Sun jumped up behind the blundering Gungadu but was gone in a matter of strides a fence later, which was a disappointing effort, although he too had plenty to prove at this level.

NEWBURY 29 December 2006 Good To Soft

3:10 Bathwick Tyres Beginners' Chase (Class 3) (5yo+) 18 fences 3m

[off 3:12] £6,506.00, £1,910.00, £955.00, £477.00

1 Pretty Star (GER) A King 6 11-2 Robert Thornton 100/30 74 133+

2 1½ Moncadou (FR) T Doumen 6 11-2 t A P McCoy 11/8F 135 73 132+

3 12 In Accord H D Daly 7 11-2 Richard Johnson 11/4 129 63 122+

4 1½ Wee Robbie N J Gifford 6 11-2 Barry Fenton 5/1 125 61 121+

4 ran TIME 6m 19.70s (slow by 29.70s) TOTAL SP 108%

1st OWNER: Mrs Lottie Hayman-Joyce BRED: Gestut Auenquelle TRAINER: A King

2nd OWNER: John P McManus

3rd OWNER: T F F Nixon

TOTE WIN £3.90; Ex £9.80; CSF £8.55

A race to treat with caution, as it was far from a stamina test. They hacked round before a sprint up the straight, with the four in line over the first two of the four remaining fences.

This probably did not suit front-running Wee Robbie, who was nevertheless disappointing in weakening out of it and was again untidy at top speed, notably at the second-last when already struggling.

It certainly suited the smaller and more nimble PRETTY STAR, who had not impressed as a stout stayer when trying 3m, albeit in the Pertemps Final.

Moncadou, another big, strong galloper, was also not seen to best effect but nearly matched the winner's pace in the last 4f. He lost nothing in defeat and can do better in a strongly run contest.

NEWBURY 24 November 2006 Good To Soft

2:40 Unicoin Homes Novices' Chase (Registered As The Worcester Novices' Chase) Grade 2 (Class 1) (5yo+) 18 fences 3m

[off 2:42] £19,957.00, £7,486.50, £3,748.50, £1,869.00, £938.00

1 Boychuk (IRE) P J Hobbs 5 11-5 Richard Johnson 7/2 133 147+

2 1½ Gungadu P F Nicholls 6 11-9 Sam Thomas 4/9F 136 151+

3 24 Wee Robbie N J Gifford 6 11-2 Leighton Aspell 14/1 109 119

4 hd Letterman (IRE) E J O´Grady 6 11-9 P W Flood 10/1 116 125

5 100 Roman Rampage (GB) Miss Z C Davison 11 11-2 p Robert Lucey-Butler 100/1 99 — —

5 ran TIME 5m 59.40s (slow by 9.40s) TOTAL SP 108%

1st OWNER: Mrs D L Whateley BRED: Robert Donaldson TRAINER: P J Hobbs

2nd OWNER: Mrs M Findlay & P K Barber

3rd OWNER: P H Betts (holdings) Ltd

TOTE WIN £3.70 PL £1.70, £1.10; Ex £6.40; CSF £5.63

The second good novice chase on the card, featuring another small, but select, field. BOYCHUK was usually found wanting at the top level in novice hurdles last season and he had been deliberate when first tried over fences. However, he has been gaining in confidence and the step up to 3m suited him, for there was no fluke about his defeat of odds-on Gungadu.

The winner travelled well on the leader's heels and he would not be shaken off in the straight. Crucially he put in a bold jump at the last and was always just on top up the run-in. The ground will dictate where he goes through the winter, as he doesn't want it any softer than this, but it should be all right at Kempton and so the Feltham looks the obvious target, especially as he both travels and stays. Looking further ahead, he is generally a 20-1 chance for the Sun Alliance.

Gungadu was the best of these over hurdles, but not by that much and he was giving 4lb to Boychuk, so he emerges the best horse at the weights despite his defeat. He'd made a highly satisfactory chasing debut when winning at Cheltenham, but he showed a slight tendency to jump to the right there and he did so again here. More to the point, he hit the cross fence both times and hit it particularly hard the second time. Try as he might, he just couldn't shake off Boychuk after that, and while there was no disgrace in this obviously, connections weren't convinced he was 100 per cent afterwards, so this might not have been his true form.

The first two came right away from Wee Robbie and Letterman, who had a real battle for third up the run-in. Wee Robbie, pulled up on his debut over fences at Huntingdon, looks a chasing type and found this track more suitable, while Letterman, who had beaten a big field headed by Back To Bid when scoring over fences at Thurles, was left behind from three out here and gives the form further credibility.