2017 Close Brothers Novice Chase

[Cashew King]

I have spoken to one of the owners and he is hopeful of a good run. Northern trained horses have a poor record in recent years at the festival but Malcolm Jefferson has had some success.

I still haven't forgiven Brian Hughes for his ride on Attaglance in this race a few years ago, when he tried to go up the rail after the last and had to switch. God, that was painful viewing.

Thanks for that - he did me last year when I was on Bouveril and he got Ballyalton back up on the line- hopefully he'll do us a favour this year !

 

[Old Vic]

Thanks for that - he did me last year when I was on Bouveril and he got Ballyalton back up on the line- hopefully he'll do us a favour this year !

Jockeys improve with age. Riding really well this year.

 

[Cashew King]

Jockeys improve with age. Riding really well this year.

Yeah - I wasn't knocking him, if he wasn't a good rider he wouldn't have got Ballyalton back up. I was on Bouveril which looked all over the winner jumping the last. I'm on Double Ws so hoping he'll do us a favour - been following the horse since he said he liked it better than cloudy dreams.

 

[doctorwu]

I've spent a couple of hours this afternoon going through the trends of this race and have 4 for the shortlist.
Bun Doran, Potters Legend, Templehills, Two Taffs.

 

[jono]

Positive quotes from Hughes on Double W's

Brian Hughes is hoping to get next week's Cheltenham Festival off a flyer when he has three rides on Tuesday's opening card.

Hughes, who is the north's leading jockey this season with 123 winners, teams up with Malcolm Jefferson's Cloudy Dream and Cyrius Darius in two of the showpiece races but is particularly keen on Double W's in the Close Brothers Novices' Handicap Chase.

The seven-year-old has had a decent first campaign over fences, winning at Carlisle and Wetherby as well as finishing second to Upsilon Bleu at Doncaster on his latest start after a poor effort at Newbury.

"And in the last, the novices' handicap chase, I ride Double W's. He's a horse we love and has been running well. He's had one poor run at Newbury, but apart from that all his runs have been pretty good.

"We thought he was harshly done to early on in handicaps because he'd won a few OK handicaps. He won them well, but got put up a lot. Thankfully the handicapper left him on 140 after his last run, which was a good run.

 

[Mills182]

Jono, are you not concerned by the trip at all? I've always had Potters Legend down as a 3 mile+ horse

 

[jono]

Jono, are you not concerned by the trip at all? I've always had Potters Legend down as a 3 mile+ horse

Not particularly Mills, I think his long term future will end up going over 3+ miles again but see him well suited to this race

 

[BigChaang]

Morning all, Been looking over the close bros h/cap chs. My (long) shortlist has 16 runners , but leaving out the multiple entries for the time being, down to 7 , Already backed a couple in foxtail hill and potters legend . SO.. on the radar for me ... 1. double w's , 2.gold present, 3. Killeney court, 4. capt.Redbeard and 5. Relentless Dreamer - Rebecca curtis ,who won this with Irish cavalier a couple of years ago . wait now for final dec 's i think , but maybe add 4 & 5 today at the prices .

 

[Faugheen_Machine]

RDS needs 5 to drop out so the chance of him getting a run is very slim

 

[JackieMoon33]

Have the 6 day entries been released?

 

[Faugheen_Machine]

Yes JM. Should be available on racing post site now.

 

[Bayoffreedom]

Yes JM. Should be available on racing post site now.

Still not upon RP site. A tip for future days is to go to www.timeform.com, search for a horse that's almost certainly running that day, click on the race and then you can navigate to all races on that day. They get the declarations up much quicker than RP

 

[JackieMoon33]

Yes JM. Should be available on racing post site now.

Henry De Bromhead has 3 entries higher than Romain De Senam and 1 entry on the same rating. Hopefully some will be rerouted as they have multiple entries.

Also, for the horses on the same mark as Romain De Senam, will they still need to do a ballot or have they already factored this in?

 

[Old Vic]

The quickest for decs is usually https://twitter.com/RacenewsService but timeform as good shout for racecards at any time. I don't know why the cant have a open system like http://www.hri-ras.ie/ - some punters (owners) getting quicker access to info.

 

[Faugheen_Machine]

Henry De Bromhead has 3 entries higher than Romain De Senam and 1 entry on the same rating. Hopefully some will be rerouted as they have multiple entries.

Also, for the horses on the same mark as Romain De Senam, will they still need to do a ballot or have they already factored this in?

I think last year (may have been the year before) the top 20 all stood their ground after the 5 day decs. I can't see 5 that will drop out, unless we get extremely soft ground.

 

[JackieMoon33]

I think last year (may have been the year before) the top 20 all stood their ground after the 5 day decs. I can't see 5 that will drop out, unless we get extremely soft ground.

As numbers 20-27 are all rated 137, are they already in the order they would move up the weights if a horse drops out?

 

[JackieMoon33]

I could be clutching at straws but I think top weight Zamdy Man might run elsewhere. He's been campaigned almost exclusively over 2m and has been well beaten on his two attempts at 2m 4f. Herons Height is a course and distance winner over 3m so this trip may be on the short side for him.

 

[JackieMoon33]

Final Nudge has also been running over further and and on softer ground. The trainer indicated a possible tilt at the Midlands National on 18th March (confirmed entry) for him. He also has an entry in the Kim Muir as an alternative too.

 

[JackieMoon33]

You can probably smell my desperation for Romain De Senam to run

 

[archie]

Twisty giving Foxtail Hill as his best bet of the week. Hard to kick out of a place.