I'm interested in another Henderson horse for this race - Gallahers Cross. His last run in the hot Ascot bumper last December (.Didtheyleaveuoutto, Bullonaire, Posh Trish, Portrush Ted) is extremely strong and is still throwing out winnners with Strong Glance (5th that day) winning the bumper at the Showcase meeting at Cheltenham this October. He ran well that day, travelled well throughout but didn't have the pace to go with them when the pace quickened.
Grech and Parkin did come out on twitter in October and state he could be a Ballymore horse:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">He will run in a novice hurdle in November then we will go from there. We are thinking he might be a Ballymore horse. He is a real mud lover so we will want rain until he runs. G&P</p>— Grech & Parkin (@GrechParkin) <a href="https://twitter.com/GrechParkin/status/1051503259033194497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2018</a></blockquote>
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But I think he could really excel over a staying trip this year over hurdles. Best price 25's at the moment. It's not a race I want to get too involved in early on (so far backed Carefully Selected) and there's more than enough uncertainty around his target to not get involved for now so happy to see how he gets on at least until after his hurdles debut but one i'm keen on for sure.
He's on my shortlist for this race too.
I feel sorry for you Jono as that's two horses we seem to share a liking for :highly_amused:
If the ground doesn't go on us she'll go again in 3 weeks so we'll know better then but her form is starting to stack up nicely.Re = 335 cheltenham
That run from Percy Veer gives a nice look to Robin de Carlow;s form Archie.
If the ground doesn't go on us she'll go again in 3 weeks so we'll know better then but her form is starting to stack up nicely.
I just had a look at Percy Veer's form a little in and out, he has beaten a horse called Getareason by 12 lengths over 2m 5f and the next race over 3m Getareason bet Percy Veer by 3 lengths, this shows maybe he doesn't stay, so using him as a yard stick may not be such a good idea. Robin's clock for 3 miles was 12 seconds slower then normal.
I can see you view point and I'm knocking it, can I ask, would you be concerned if come Cheltenham the going didn't have good in it considering she's only ran on good ground?.
Emitom - won today at Ffos Las. Impressively.
Looks worth following how this form works out, to gauge how good he might be, might have been a reasonable race for staying novices.
Not priced up for this yet but is of interest.
The race won by some pretty good strong staying types in the past.
Greatrex said after race that he'll get plenty of practice before stepping up.
Rockpoint runs for the same connections of Thistlecrack today at Newbury, trying 3m for the first time. Breeding suggests he'll relish the trip and has been backed accordingly for the race. Sire has the likes of Annie Power, Minella Rocco & Rock The Kasbah to his name, whilst the dam is new to the breeding game, but produced current RSA favourite, and Albert Bartlett 3rd last season, Santini.
'IF' things go to plan today then no reason why a crack at this race is not within the realms of possibility. I have had a couple of prices requested from a couple of bookmakers, so will see what they come back with.
Rockpoint is currently only rated 118, not that I am a huge fan of taking ratings at face value, but Kilbricken Storm won the Bartlett last season rated 143, Santini & Chef Des Obeaux were highest rated at 150, so you'd need a fair bit of improvement from Rockpoint to seemingly have any shout. The lowest rated winner in the past 8 runnings was Very Wood, rated just 137, so an improvement of at least 20lb's for the step up in trip looks a minimal requirement. Before we view that as a tough ask, remember the same trainer managed to get 39lb's improvement out of Thistlecrack for the step up to 3m. He was rated 135 before tackling 3m for the first time, and ended the season a 174 rated horse.
Have been quoted 66/1 with Bet365, I will be hovering over that during the race.