The weekend offered us some great racing and significant ante post market movers. I have picked out three horses that could prove to be big players at the business end of the season.
Sandown Tolworth Hurdle
Saturday’s feature race in the UK was once again claimed by Colin Tizzard with Fiddlerontheroof. He followed in the previous hoofprints of the likes of Finian’s Oscar and Elixir De Nutz by claiming Grade 1 glory in this race.
Sent off the 5/4 favourite, he was strong in the betting most of the morning and justified that support with a good win over the two mile trip.
As a result of that win we cut him to 8/1 for the Supreme Novices’ and are currently at time of writing a joint top price of 14/1 for the Ballymore.
With 3 previous winners of the Tolworth going on to win the Supreme and 3 going on to win the Ballymore either race remains a viable option for the 6 year old by Stowaway. It will be fascinating to see where he ends up come March at Prestbury Park.
Naas Lawlor’s Of Naas Novice Hurdle (Grade 1)
On Sunday, Naas provided another piece of the novice hurdle puzzle with Gordon Elliott unleashing the unbeaten Envoi Allen. His reputation has grown with each run and at a skinny price he provided a performance that most would have expected, as he took the Grade 1 race with relative ease.
His trainer seemed pleased with the run and the Dublin Racing Festival remains a potential final port of call before Cheltenham. However, going straight to the Festival is at this stage just as likely an option.
Entries for the Ballymore (6/4), Supreme (5/1) and the Champion Hurdle (12/1) are expected. Whichever route he takes we can be sure that if he makes it to Cheltenham, he’ll be one of the most talked about horses that lines up at Prestbury Park.
Sandown Juvenile Hurdle (Class 3)
Returning to Sandown, we had a small field Juvenlie Hurdle which was claimed by Nicky Henderson’s Palladium.
Second on debut at Warwick, he didn’t need to improve much to take this race but did so in nice style.
He’s well-bred being a half-brother to Galileo Gold who won the 2000 Guineas, and whilst we put him in the Triumph Hurdle market, another run is expected before heading to the Boodles Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham.
