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Our man on the inside - ‘Horsehead’ - keeps you updated with all the latest news and gossip from Cheltenham on Day One of the Paddy Power Open. Check back with us through the day - and over the weekend!
1700 What a day that was. We had Jason McKeown borrowing an implement, Davy Russell going boldly where no jockey had gone before, and Ruby going awol with Herecomesthetruth in the last. What treats do we have in store for the next two days?
Tomorrow it’s the big one, and Paddy has just finished his prices. Silverburn remains the 7-2 favourite, but remember Paul Nicholls’s observations about the ground. For what it’s worth, the latest prediction from the local weather station is for no rain overnight nor in the morning, with a low of nothing below a positively balmy nine degrees.
Talking of positively barmy, we’re signing off for the evening and heading for a few sherberts down the Wild Duck. Be sure to check back here tomorrow when we’ll attempt to bring you the inside track from the track. Night all.
1646 Mr Smug duly held off his challengers in the tipping competition, finishing £11.01 ahead of Petr Guth, who works for Paddock Reme in the Czech Republic. They come from everywhere for the Paddy Power, don’t they?
1627 Was Shining Gale lucky? His trainer Charlie Mann, sporting a particularly fetching pink cardie, definitely thinks not. “I think he’d have won it anyway,” said Charlie. “He’s totally a different horse since he had an operation, and he’ll get further as he’s won point-to-points.”
Shining Gale gets a 25-1 quote for the Sun Alliance Chase back here in March.
1610 Breaking news. Anyone who backed the Queen to attend Cheltenham tomorrow to watch 7-1 shot Barbers Shop run in the Paddy Power Gold Cup is out of luck. Nicky Henderson, Barbers Shop’s trainer, tells us, confidentially, that Her Majesty won’t be coming. Ah, so does that mean Paddy can use the Royal box as a overflow for entertaining?
Nicky added: “We’ve switched Barbers Shop back to two-mile five which is far enough for him in this ground. He’s in good form, fresh and well and he jumped five fences this morning. And I wouldn’t throw Fleet Street out of the equation either as he runs well fresh.”
Food for thought from the master of Seven Barrow, and remember Paddy is paying five places each-way in the big race.
1559 One man smiling away like a Cheshire after the cross country was Timeform’s rep here David Cleary who swept into the lead in a tipping competition Paddy is staging for the press on all three days by selecting Dix Villez. Presumably he walked the course with Davy.
And His Smugness has all but wrapped up today’s competition as he had Andystown in the next. Going into the last leg, DC, who’s tipped Peplum, is £20 clear from Nick Luck and the Sunday Times’s Donn McClean. Lucky’s on Dream Garden here, gunning for the place money. Can you sense that while watching RUK?
1534 Well, how about that? It turns out Davy Russell was the brightest bunny out there. The bushes he nipped inside were not actually part of the course but solely for decoration (and very pretty the topiary looked too). Still, that didn’t stop the crowd roaring their disapproval when the replay was shown on the giant screen. What did you expect, with a 28-1 rag beating the jolly?
“A characteristic about this course is that in certain parts you can nick a length or two,” said canny Davy.
Trainer Paul Nolan says Dix Villez will “stick to the banks” (not Icelandic ones, I’d wager) and “please, God, we’ll come back for the Festival.”
It turns out Nina Carberry had taken a heavier fall than she had first figured, but Frank Berry, JP’s racing manager, is confident she’ll be fit for a rapid return.
1509 Did it look to you as if Dix Villez cut a corner there? We’ll keep you posted.
Hmmm. Opinion here in the press room is that he has gone the wrong side of a bush. And here’s the bing-bong. A stewards’ inquiry, presumably into Davy Russell’s steering.
1500 Hats off to Mick Fitz who told you that Ornais was the bet to beat Battlecry in the paddypower.com Graduation Chase. Ornais won’t be running in the Hennessy, and perma-tanned owner Andy Stewart (not to be confused with the kilted crooner who was always on the box at Hogmaneigh) fancies another trip to Sandown for the Future Stars Intermediate Chase which he and Paul Nicholls won last year with Turko.
Ornais is in the King George, for which he gets a 33-1 quote but Nicholls said he would only be on Kempton duty if others, principally Kauto Star, fell by the wayside. If he did turn up, then, he wouldn’t be 33s, would he? “I think a track like Leopardstown might suit him,” said Nicholls.
The trainer also reported that Ruby reckons the ground was “very testing”. “It’s going to have a big bearing on tomorrow,” said the man who trains the Paddy Power Gold Cup favourite, Silverburn.
It’s time to put the kettle on and have a brew - I mean enjoy the cross-country.
1451 Oh dear, Nina, what can the matter be? Miss Carberry, who took a spill in the opener, is not riding Garde Champetre in the cross-country. Her place on the favourite has been taken by JT McNamara (not exactly a shabby sub, that) while the mount on L’Ami is handed to Mr Whippy, as we’ll call him from now on, Jason McKeown.
1432 Postscript on the opener. Jason McKeown, the whip-nicking rider of Hoopy, picked up a two-day ban for his enterprise. The 23-year-old, who dropped his cosh when Hoopy hit the open ditch, said: “I thought to myself ‘Jesus, I’m so far back’ and I was kicking and kicking, and I thought I had to get a stick. Donal didn’t say anything, he was just gobsmacked. I’d never done that before but there’s a first time for everything. His horse wasn’t going anywhere at the time and I wanted to get the job done.”
1418 Golan Way, trained by the flame-haired temptress Sheena West, earned himself a quote of 25-1 with Paddy Power for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle by staying on well up the hill under Jamie Goldstein. The winner failed to emulate his father Golan, who won the 2000 Guineas, on the Flat, winning just a maiden at Wolves at the eighth attempt, but has taken to the winter game somewhat better.
Sheena snapped him up for what now looks a bargain 13,000 guineas at Doncaster last January, and this latest display answered any questions she had about where to proceed. One question that needs addressing is why does she only train a dozen horses? “No-one sends me any horses,” she said, sadly.
And in another packed unsaddling enclosure, filled by the successful WRB Racing 58 (and counting) syndicate, Jamie Goldstein was so engrossed with a mass debrief that a call “Would Jamie Goldstein please return to the weighing room to weigh in” had to be broadcast.
1347 Would you Adam and Eve it? The rider of the runner-up Alexanderthegreat has objected to the winner on the grounds that Hoopy’s rider gained an unfair advantage when he took the whip being carried by Donal Devereux on the weakening King Harald running down. Shades of Lester nabbing Alain Lequeux’s stick at Deauville yonks ago after losing his own?
But it comes to nothing. Nonetheless, an interesting start to the day.
Cheltenham’s policy of limting owners to a certain number of badges is seemingly not being enforced for the Paddy Power. It felt like half of Co Meath accompanied the winner into the unsaddling enclosure, complete with obligatory Irish roar.
Nina Carberry, who took a tumble and appeared to get a kicking from the jolly, Aggie’s Lad at the second last, happily walked into the weighing room saying that she was a.okay, which is good news for the supporters of Garde Champetre in the cross country.
1252 To the weighing room for a sneaky chat with Daniel Skelton, assistant to Paul Nicholls. The chit-chat was consistently interrupted by the annoying presence of a red and yellow helicopter hovering over the course as part of a display. Must remind myself to have a word with the PP branding boys and get it painted green for next year.
Dan’s the man with his finger on the pulse and he reckons Ornais faces a “quite stiff task” against odds-on Battlecry in the paddypower.com Graduation Chase.
“He’s giving weight to Battlecry and also he has to act around the track on ground on which he’s not proven, which isn’t a problem to Battlecry,” said Dan, who nominates the yard’s American Trilogy in the 1.50 as his “best bet” of the day.
“But he is a short price after winning his maiden at Aintree, while Herecomesthetruth should go nicely in the novices chase,” he added.
American Trilogy, Dan might be interested to know, is easing slightly, and is currently 11-8, having been 11-10, as the support continues for Leo’s Lucky Star. Herecomesthetruth is 11-8 in the lucky last.
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