I head to Newbury for three rides on MansionBet Challow Novices’ Hurdle Day on what should be a great afternoon of racing.
12:50 – MansionBet Watch and Bet ‘Introductory’ Hurdle
My first ride is Horn Cape who made a very bad mistake last time out at Exeter and was rightly quickly pulled up by Nico de Boinville. He has been fine since at home and the plan is to build his confidence back up in this race. We will aim to get a clear run round and get him jumping properly.
He’s a lovely horse and will be very nice in time; I’m hopeful of a big run as long as there are no ill effects from the incident at Exeter.
2:00 – Bank A Winner with MansionBet Handicap Hurdle
Dickie Diver is a super-talented horse, but he’s fragile and has had a few issues over the last couple of years, so we’ve had to be patient with him. This trip of 2-mile 4-furlongs would be an absolute minimum for him now and he will be stepping up to 3 miles going forward. I will look to make use of his big engine and the ground should be ideal for him.
3:05 – (Grade 1) MansionBet Challow Novices’ Hurdle
The Grade 1 MansionBet Challow Novices’ Hurdle is a race I would love to win and I think I have a good chance with Go Dante. His first two runs were brilliant, me and Olly were super confident going into Ascot after bolting up at Bangor, but something was just not right with him on the day. At Ascot he didn’t jump anything like he had shown me before and was just never travelling. The ground was soft that day at Ascot, but that wasn’t the reason he was beaten; he was obviously not right on the day. We’ve found nothing wrong with him at home and he seems to be right back to his normal self. This is going to be a tough race though; you have to respect the Gordan Elliott horse coming over from Ireland, he looks very smart. Stage Star for Paul Nicholls is another who has some good form in the book and it sounds like this race has been his plan for a while.
Good Luck and Stay Safe, Aidan