Another ‘very special’ Saturday

THREE winners and two seconds on Saturday, with the success of Invictus in the Grade 2 Reynoldstown Chase the highlight, left Alan King a happy man as he drove back down the M4 from Ascot, and now our jigsaw for next month’s Cheltenham Festival is almost complete.

Neither Alan nor ‘Choc’ Thornton, who has landed running after returning from nine weeks off with a broken arm, has ever disguised the high regard which they have for Invictus, whose odds for the RSA Chase at Cheltenham vary between 6-1 and 12-1.
     Invictus would collect the £60,000 bonus offered by SIS should he win at the Festival, having qualified for the jackpot when scoring at Plumpton, and Choc has no doubt that he deserves his place in the line-up.
     He said: “I have loved Invictus from day one, and we put a line through his Dipper Chase disappointment at Cheltenham’s New Year meeting as he never travelled that day and came back very sore, having lost a shoe early on.
     “Invictus is a brilliant jumper and you can see 10 strides before he gets to a fence where he is going. He has got more gears that you normally associate with a three-miler and is definitely not slow, and, while Grands Crus will be the one we all have to beat if he goes for the RSA, our fellow has earned the right to his place in the field.”
     Alan, who also plans to run Walkon in the same race at Cheltenham – “he was flat out over two-and-a half miles at Newbury on Friday and looks to be crying out for a step up in trip” – believes the improved ground is a factor in Invictus’s rise through the ranks.
     He added:“We saw the real Invictus again at Ascot, and he does seem to enjoy that good ground. We knew that the Dipper was not him as he was so professional at Plumpton, and he has bounced back in style.”
     Alan added Balder Succes to his Cheltenham team after the four-year-old had laughed at older horses in the novice hurdle at Ascot, producing a great display of slick, fast jumping.
     “He will have to go now,” observed Alan, adding “He is a lovely horse and was very good there, but whether we go for the Triumph or take on his seniors again in the Supreme Novices’ we will decide nearer the time.”
     Similarly, Alan will delay a choice between the Ryanair Chase and the Gold Cup for Medermit, who ran a terrific race to chase home Riverside Theatre in the Betfair Ascot Chase.
     “We have the option of both and I’ll talk to the owners,” declared Alan, who was also delighted with the effort of Smad Place under topweight in the handicap hurdle. He could yet be a runner in the Grade 1 World Hurdle, especially as with Big Buck’s scaring away most of the opposition, a small field seems likely.
     Wayne Hutchinson might have been forced to concede centre-stage to Choc, but he has done a brilliant job in the absence of our number one jockey and again excelled on Lovcen when winning at Wincanton.
     Part-owned by Nigel Bunter, Alan’s landlord, Lovcen could well take his chance in the Albert Bartlett Hurdle at the Festival, and, while Gold Ingot, who made his debut in the bumper at Ascot, won’t be in the Cheltenham squad, Alan was “absolutely delighted” with his debut fourth, having been held up by the weather in recent weeks.

Montbazon so smooth at Newbury

MONTBAZON, who has been the apple of Alan King’s eye since he first walked into the yard, is as short as 7-1 second-favourite for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham next month following a highly polished winning performance at Newbury on Friday.
     Choc Thornton, who only returned from nine weeks on the sidleines at Southwell on Wednesday, showed that he has lost none of his dash when bringing Montbazon seven lengths clear of Vulcanite from the final flight.
     Alan said: “I told Choc beforehand that there was to be no show-boating and that he was to press the button at the second last and teach Montbazon something.
     “Plumpton was a nice confidence-booster, but it did not tell us anything that we did not know, and we needed to find out here whether it was worth going to Cheltenham. I think we got our answer!”
     Montbazon has been plagued with sore shins this winter, but the last six weeks Alan has enjoyed a clean run with his stable-star, and the boss could not have been more delighted.
     He added: “They went a real good gallop and it was a proper trial. He copes with this soft going, but the better the ground the more effective he is as he has so much speed.”
     Montbazon is owned by David Sewell, who also had a winner at Sandown with Midnight Appeal, but Alan was almost as pleased with the narrow defeats of both Fire Fighter and Tante Sissi on the Esher course, not to mention the excellent third place of Raya Star in the feature Betfair Handicap Hurdle.
     Raya Star, who had gone up 5lb since winning The Ladbroke at Ascot, was still bang there at the last, but was run out of it on the dash to the line by the well-treated Zarkandar and the 2010 winner Get Me Out Of Here.
     Alan said: “Raya Star has run a cracker. He travelled great and, though I am making no excuses, it’s amazing that twice now he has had slow-run races, whereas we have always thought he wants an end-to-end gallop.
     “In all probability, Raya Star will now run in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham, but we will also enter him for the Coral Hurdle as we have always felt that he would be suited by a step up in trip.”

We COULD be two-handed in National

IF YOU listen to the bookmakers Alan King has two major contenders for this year’s John Smith’s Grand National, and the boss confirmed that both West End Rocker and Hold on Julio are being seriously considered for the world’s greatest steeplechase at Aintree on April 14.
     One bookmaker has West End Rocker (10st 12lb) as co-favourite at 14-1, while Hold on Julio (10st 7lb) is as short as 20-1 with some layers, and, having digested the weights that were announced on Tuesday, Alan said: “Aintree has been the plan for West End Rocker since he won the Becher Chase over the big Aintree fences in November, and the weight is about what we expected.
     “I did not want to run ‘Rocker’ again until after the weights were released, but he will now head to Doncaster on March 3 for the Grimthorpe Chase and then hopefully it will be all systems go for Aintree.
     “Similarly, we are happy enough with the weight of Hold on Julio, but he won’t be confirmed for Aintree until after we see how he shapes on his next run, which will either be in the Racing Post Chase at Kempton on Saturday week or the Spinal Injuries Chase at Cheltenham.”

What a fabulous Saturday at Cheltenham

The Friday blues which followed the news that Hold on Julio was off-colour and was therefore a late withdrawal from the valuable Skybet Chase at Doncaster faded into the distance 24 hours later when Alan celebrated one of those special days, three winners at the Festival Trials meeting at his beloved Cheltenham.
     We have suffered in frustration at Cheltenham these past 10 months, racking up 16 consecutive losers since Bensalem won at last year’s Festival, but Grumeti put the smile back on Alan’s face, albeit with a little help from the stewards, and the day just got better and better as Bless the Wings and Batonnier topped up the celebrations.
     Grumeti had been short-headed by Pearl Swan in the Triumph Hurdle Trial, but our fellow had been hampered twice on the run-in and Wayne Hutchinson was always optimistic that he would get the result reversed at the subsequent stewards enquiry.
     Wayne said: “The interference undoubtedly cost us the race. The other horse twice rolled into us and gave us a bump. We became unbalanced and lost momentum, and when that happens it is very difficult to get rolling again, especially as he had us tight against the rails.
     “Grumeti is a proper horse and we have definitely got another live Triumph contender – he will be right there at Cheltenham.” Bookmakers tend to agree as he remains an 8-1 chance for the Festival.
     Alan said: “It is never nice winning a race in the stewards room, but if the interference made the difference then so be it.
     “We were not originally coming here, but when Grumeti tipped up two out at Newbury when well clear we had to think again.
     “That was a good solid run and he will be even more effective on better ground, but, whereas Katchit and Franchoek both went straight to the Triumph after running in this trial, Grumeti lacks their experience, so I would like to give him another run before the Festival, though it would not be imperative.
     “We will get the programme book out, and if Grumeti comes out of the race ok we will look for another race in mid February.
     “The Adonis at Kempton is the obvious race, but it is not until February 25 this year, and that is plenty close enough to Cheltenham.” Bless the Wings needed no help from the stewards or anybody else after winning the Timeform Novices’ Handicap Chase, having produced some prodigious leaps en route to an impressive victory. “I was surprised how well he travelled through the race, and he loved it,” declared Wayne, while Alan was quick to confirm Bless the Wings as one of his team for the Festival. Alan said:“You won’t see a novice produce a better round of jumping around Cheltenham, and, though the Centenary Chase is probably the race for him, he will get three miles so we will enter him for a few races at the Festival.
     “Bless the Wings never managed to win over hurdles, but he is a much stronger horse this season and he jumped super.
     “Wayne found himself in front much sooner than we had planned and Bless the Wings is the type of horse who pricks his ears and looks around, but with his rivals dropping like flies circumstances dictated that we were left there.
     “Bless the Wings is a good solid handicapper and progressing all the time, and I could not be more pleased with him.”
     Batonnier earned a quote of 16-1 for the Neptune Management Novices’ Hurdle after beating the highly-rated Broadbackbob in the dress-rehearsal over the same course and distance, and Alan confirmed that he will now go straight to the Festival.
     Wayne said: “I did not expect this one. Batonnier has surprised me, but he ran a blinder here on New Year’s Day and we knew that he had each-way chance.
    “He has done nothing but improve and deserves to go the Festival, though long-term he will make a smashing chaser.”
     Alan was similarly enthusiastic, both with Batonnier and third-placed Secret Edge, observing: “Batonnier has improved a hell of a lot, and he worked brilliantly mid-week, so we were hopeful of a big run.
     “He used to be quite keen, but we have taught him to relax and he is now much more settled. He has a terrific engine. “Secret Edge has also run a stormer. We knew that he would improve for stepping up in trip, and two and a half miles seems to suit him well, so there might not be anything for him at the Festival. He is still only four, so there is no rush for him.”
     Reflecting on his day at Prestbury Park, Alan added: “Unbelievable. We were coming up for a year since our last Cheltenham winner, and what happens, three come along at once. It was a fabulous day – you know what Cheltenham means to me, so I am going to enjoy every moment of it.”
     And once he came down to earth on Sunday morning, Alan was looking forward to the reappearance of Montbazon at Plumpton on Monday. He reports our Supreme Novices’ Hurdle contender to be “in good shape”, observing that his defeat by Colour Squadron at Newbury “now looks very solid form”, and the more the ground dries up the happier he will be.