Leading owner Chris Giles knows a Grade 1 horse when he has one and is convinced
Crambo will win the ?125,000
Betfair "Serial Winners" Stayers' Handicap Hurdle (2.20) at Haydock on Saturday and announce himself a serious contender for the Stayers' Hurdle.
Giles shares ownership of the exciting Fergal O'Brien-trained prospect with Jared Sullivan, with whom he also owned Grade 1 winners Zarkandar and Silviniaco Conti. His famous pink and purple silks have also been carried by the likes of Greaneteen and Stay Away Fay, and he is confident the progressive Crambo will shorten for Cheltenham Festival glory after the handicap hurdle. He has already backed him at 33-1 for the Stayers'.
Crambo won the valuable EBF Final at Sandown last season and returned to action with a smooth victory in the same race Paisley Park won at Aintree before taking Saturday's contest, the Long Walk, Cleeve and Stayers' in a spectacular season in 2018-19, and Giles is full of belief Crambo can chart a similar path to the festival
Giles thinks the six-year-old should be well suited to the demands of the staying hurdle division and said: "I think the world of him and in terms of scope and size he's quite like Paisley Park. He's a lovely looking horse and quite compact.
"I love his attitude and the way he travels. He's a beautiful jumper and it's a struggle to find faults – he's definitely one of my favourite horses. He's versatile but he won the EBF Final on really quite heavy ground, so the juice in conditions at Haydock should suit him. He's had excuses for both of his Grade 1 flops and at Aintree he was hampered at a crucial stage of the race.
"You wouldn't be frightened of anything in the current division if you owned an up-and-coming horse. Fergal would probably have favoured going the Pertemps route this season but fortune favours the brave and you've got to grasp the nettle."
He added: "About two or three weeks ago I backed him at 33s for the Stayers' with Sky Bet, but I was limited. I'm thinking about trying to get another ?250 on him each-way because he's going to be 10s or 12s if he wins on Saturday.
Giles, who suggested Sandown on December 8 is "set in stone" for
Stay Away Fay's next start, also provided a positive update on sidelined three-time Grade 1 winner
Greaneteen, who he believes is an "outside bet that shouldn't be ignored" in the Champion Chase. He is a 50-1 chance for the day two highlight with Paddy Power, having finished fourth in the 2021 running and third in March despite making a bad mistake.
Of the Paul Nicholls-trained chaser, he said: "Greaneteen is sidelined with a fractured pelvis. He was given a wind operation in the summer as we thought he was struggling with his wind after the won the Haldon Gold Cup and he could go straight to the Champion Chase.
"We still think he's a great two-miler – he travels and he likes Cheltenham. I'm still very excited by him, he's lightly raced, he's only going to be nine going on ten and there's still a lot of juice there. Paul is going to have him as fit as a fiddle.
"It was great to see Jonbon the other day. He's obviously a super horse and he could be the next Sprinter Sacre, but the two-mile division tires these horses out. Greaneteen goes well fresh and I think he's an outside bet that shouldn't be ignored
An article from the racing post
If you're a backer of crambo you just have to love the bullishness of chris giles.
I'm not saying that it always comes to fruition but it gives you that extra bit of hope...... until at least saturday.
