Cheltenham Fri : Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase

[Guest]

The usual suspects:

HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER RTF% JOCKEY OR TS RPR
20 32P-06 Ouzbeck20 10 10-10 Emma Lavelle60 135 148 161
16 1/1131 Orphee Des Blins34 10 11-1 G Wroblewski 147 — 156
2 P0O1-1 Balthazar King27 8 11-8 Philip Hobbs40 146 141 155
6 81-646 Uncle Junior34 11 11-8 W P Mullins 152 148 152
21 26O3-F Wedger Pardy183 11 10-10 Kim Bailey67 131 142 150
11 P/160- Midnight Haze216 10 11-5 Kim Bailey67 134 134 149
5 344-04 Sizing Australia18 10 11-8 Henry De Bromhead 144 142 148
14 P7-121 Shakervilz56 9 11-5 W P Mullins 139 72 146
13 U1-05O Outlaw Pete12 8 11-5 J Halley100 122 113 144
9 29P112 5 Bundle Of Fun12 9 11-5 W P Mullins 124 119 142
3 6547-3 Hello Bud163 14 11-8 Nigel Twiston-Davies57 125 138 140
7 PB2-P4 Arabella Boy15 7 11-5 E Bolger50 126 77 140
15 P45-23 Vincitore16 6 11-2 Charlie Longsdon50 124 110 139
4 034P-8 3 Nikola20 11 11-8 Nigel Twiston-Davies57 115 109 136
10 19U0-P Double Dizzy12 11 11-5 Bob Buckler Andrew Glassonbury 138 52 129
17 1-2332 1 Try Catch Me49 7 10-13 Alison Batchelor Mark Quinlan 102 105 122
12 36157 2 Noble Commander105 9 11-5 Garvan Donnelly 104 108 117
1 0-476P Another Jewel22 10 11-8 Denis Paul Murphy 135 49 116
19 15547 4 Doctor Pat34 8 10-10 E Bolger50 115 — 106
8 11U-7 Bahrain Storm21F 9 11-5 Noel Quinlan Jack Quinlan 139 — —
18 00-068 Deutschland12F 9 10-10 W P Mullins 142 — —

[JohnC]

Orphee Des Blins, the emphatic winner of this year’s Velka Pardubicka, features
among 21 entries for the £25,000 Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeplechase (3pm), one
of the highlights of the first day of The Open, Countryside Day, Friday, November 16.
The 10-year-old mare gave trainer Greg Wroblewski and jockey Jan Faltejsek the
biggest successes of their careers as she made all for a decisive 16-length victory in
the famous steeplechase at Pardubice in the Czech Republic on October 13.
She is set to try and become the first winner of both the Velka Pardubicka and the
Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeplechase following a pair of agonising near misses for
Czech-trained horses at Cheltenham. Peruan was beaten a neck at The Open in 1997,
while Registana took the wrong course when clear of the field at the same meeting in
2004.
Wroblewski revealed: “Orphee Des Blins is hopefully heading over to Britain on
Tuesday evening. She is fine at the moment - she took her race in the Velka
Pardubicka very well and recovered very quickly. I hope that she is in similar form and
I hope that she can run well.
“She won two shorter races very easily in the summer before we ran her over 5,800m
(3m 5f) for her qualification race for the Velka Pardubicka in August. She was only third
in that race, but we weren’t sure about her staying the trip so I told the jockey to see if
she could get home.
“I wasn’t sure whether she would cope with the soft ground in the Velka Pardubicka
because her other starts this season had been on a faster surface. The Velka
Pardubicka is run on a very unique course - the grass was fine but the fields were very
heavy.
“The most important thing in the Velka Pardubicka was Jan Faltejsek. He let Orphee
Des Blins jump and gave her a long rein, so she could hold a rhythm throughout the
whole race. She was able to go her own pace and it was a great day for us.
“We had a little bit of a dilemma as to whether we would bring her to Britain. We could
have finished her season after the Velka Pardubicka with a glorious victory and it is bit
of a risk to bringing her over to Cheltenham in case she doesn’t run to the same form,
but it is an interesting proposition.
“I have had runners in many countries but this will be my first runner in Britain. Chyszow
was a star for me in Scandinavia - he won every race there and a Listed Hurdle at
Baden Baden before running in the Breeders’ Cup Steeplechase and the Colonial Cup
in America in 1988.
“I never take horses anywhere where I don’t think that they have a chance and I love
to win, rather than just participate in races. The level of racing in Britain and Ireland is
very high and has been out of my reach until now.
“Orphee Des Blins has beaten a couple of British and Ireland horses in the Velka
Pardubicka and she set a quick time in the conditions, so I thought it was fair to give her
a chance. I can remember Galileo coming over from Poland and winning at the
Cheltenham Festival in 2002, so nothing is impossible.”
The entries for the Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeplechase also include Uncle Junior,
who captured this race at The Open in 2011 and was sixth behind Orphee Des Blins
in the Velka Pardubicka.
Enda Bolger, the Irish cross country specialist, has entered Doctor Pat and Arabella
Boy, while the two previous winners of the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase
at The Festival, Sizing Australia (2011) and Balthazar King (2012), could also return
to Cheltenham.

[Statto]

15:00 - Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase Cl2 3m7f CH4

9/9 – Aged 9 or older
9/9 – Either Irish (5) or French (4) bred
9/9 – Had run at Cheltenham before
8/9 – Winning distance – 2 ½ lengths or less
7/9 – Carried 11-5 or more
7/9 – Came from the top 3 in the betting
7/9 – Aged 10 or older
7/9 – Unplaced last time out
7/9 – Won by an Irish-trained horse
7/9 – Returned 6/1 or shorter in the betting
6/9 – Had run over this Cross County course before (4 won)
6/9 – Had a recent run
6/9 – Had won at least 5 times over fences before
5/9 – Placed favourites
5/9 – Trained by Enda Bolger
4/9 – Ridden by JT McNamara
2/9 – Winning favourites
The average winning SP in the last 9 years is 15/2

[Yeehaa]

Balthazar King won the big handicap over these fences at The Festival in March and made a successful reappearance over conventional obstacles here last month. He's sure to be thereabouts again but has little in hand on old rivals Wedger Pardy and SIZING AUSTRALIA on today's terms and Henry De Bromhead's cross-country specialist can come out on top today after a pipe-opener over hurdles at Naas.

Orphee Des Blins produced a massive upset in the Velka Pardubicka last month, when Uncle Junior finished sixth, and is a big threat if he's handled the trip over from the Czech Republic while Midnight Haze goes well fresh and could run well at decent odds. Veteran Hello Bud has the past form to figure but it remains to be seen how the former Scottish National winner gets on over these unique fences.

[mayo]

Geegeez Preview

And so to the Cross Country race. It is likely, after so much rain, that there will be no repeat of the horrific scenes here in March when both Scotsirish and Garde Champetre met their end on tarmac-like underfoot. I do enjoy these races, but that experience has tempered my enthusiasm considerably.

Anyway, my own disposition aside, it is a typically big field and there are plenty of interesting contenders. That ‘dark chapter’ Cheltenham winner, Balthazar King, steps forward again, and he’s won four times here, though just the once on the cross country course. He has obvious chances and will likely be ridden prominently again.

Undoubtedly the most interesting rival he’ll face is the Czech ‘have a go hero’, Orphee Des Blins. She bolted up in that grand old race, the Velka Pardubicka, ridden by today’s jockey, Jan Faltejsek. If you doubt the merit of the form, then when I tell you that Nick Williams’ Maljimar was a forty length fourth, and Willie Mullins’ Uncle Junior was a 45 length sixth, you’ll understand that she has serious credentials for this. Serious. Credentials.

Kim Bailey, who won this back in 2000 and again in 2002, has two runners here: Midnight Haze and Wedger Pardy. Midnight Haze is an impeccable jumper, as evidenced by a sixteen race record with just one PU in non-completion terms. That sequence includes a sixth place in the Cheltenham Cross Country, and 15th in the Grand National. He has won races too, at up to 3m2f, but I don’t think he’s quite up to the pick of these unless something untoward happens.

Wedger Pardy has extensive Irish cross country form, when under Ted Walsh’s stewardship. Since moving to Kim Bailey, he’s finished third in that Festival Cross Country, and fell last time in a Listed cross country race in France. He’s got a definite place chance, and might be a price.

Uncle Junior is one of the slowest horses in training and, whilst he did win this last year, I can’t see him repeating the feat.

Sizing Australia first ran in this race in 2009, finishing a close up third. Since then, he’s finished third again in 2010, and also managed second at the 2009 December meeting, and first and fourth in the last two Festival Cross Country Chases. In other words, he’s the proverbial standing dish in the race. Still only ten (young in the context of this race), he can make the frame again, but he’s more likely to claim a minor medal than to snatch gold.

It’s hard to make a case for any of the rest, especially Deutschland, who might be backed. He’s never won beyond two miles and a furlong and, although they do lollop funereally slowly here, this is just about the same distance again and I can’t see him getting the trip even with a bus ticket.

No, I really like the look of Orphee Des Blins here, and she might be a bigger price than she should early doors, due to her relative obscurity from most punters’ awareness.

Selection: Orphee Des Blins 7/1 bet365
Each Way Alternative: Wedger Pardy 16/1 Ladbrokes