UK Horse Racing Tips

The National Hunt season has well and truly reached full stride with plenty of big names expected to feature in the top races at the Cheltenham festival in March already having had a run, reminding jumps fans of just how much there is to look forward to in what promises to be another tremendous season, writes Elliot Slater.

The next few months are sure to fly by leaving the always eagerly anticipated Cheltenham Festival around the corner, by which time the picture relating to the top showcase races of the meeting – the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase, World Hurdle and Gold Cup, as well as other top events such as the Supreme Novices Hurdle, RSA Chase, Arkle Trophy, Ryanair Chase, and Triumph Hurdle, amongst others, should be that much more defined.

So, what have we learned so far in the first few weeks of the autumn schedule? Well, amongst other things, we know that Minehead-based trainer Philip Hobbs is probably in better form than any other of the major yards. Hobbs has enjoyed a tremendous strike rate so far this campaign and virtually all his horses seem to be running out of their skin. The best example would probably be his popular chaser Menorah, always there or thereabouts in top events over the years, but apparently a pound or two short of the very best in his division.

Menorah, however, lit up the Grade 2 three-mile-one-furlong Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on November 1, the season’s first big stayers’ contest, when put up a sparkling display to land his first victory at the trip and open up a whole new range of possibilities for the likeable Diana Whateley-owned gelding. In previous seasons Menorah, (named after the seven-stemmed candelabra symbol of the State of Israel), had appeared to be at his best when racing at around two-and-a-half miles, winning top races such as the Grade 1 Manifesto Novices Chase at Aintree over the trip, as well as the Grade 2 Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon.

Last term the signs were there that as he gets older Menorah’s stamina is developing. He won the listed Oaksey Chase over the very testing two-and-three-quarter miles at Sandown, beating Gullinbursti by 17 lengths, and at Wetherby, having his first outing of the term, always appeared to be travelling well in the hands of his regular partner, Richard Johnson. The Wetherby home straight is uphill all the way but there was no sign of Menorah’s stamina flickering as first The Giant Bolster, then Silviniaco Conti, then Double Ross and Medermit ran out of steam.

Going to the final fence Menorah had already assumed command and a good leap sealed the deal as he stayed on very strongly all the way to the line to beat last season’s Cheltenham Festival winner Taquin de Seuil (JLT Novices Chase hero), by a comfortable four lengths.

Hobbs, who hadn’t travelled north to Wetherby in Yorkshire for the race, (but who saw it at Ascot where he was saddling other runners), suggested that the King George VI Chase at Kempton would now appear the obvious route for his gelded son of King’s Theatre. Betting firms reacted by trimming the odds of a Menorah victory at the feature Sunbury Christmas highlight to a general offer of 14/1.

Paul Nicholls’ evens favourite Silvinaco Conti – who had been expected by many to make a winning return in the ‘Charlie Hall’ – was quite disappointing, prompting the champion trainer to suggest that he still was short of where he wanted him to be at this stage so he may well take in another race – quite possibly the Grade 1 Betfair Chase at Haydock later in the month – before heading to Kempton for the ‘King George’, a race in which he defeated the classy Cue Card last winter.

The runner-up at Wetherby, Taquin De Seuil, delighted trainer Jonjo O’Neill who couldn’t have been happier with this first-time-out effort. O’Neill confirmed his charge bang on target to head to Haydock for the Betfrair Chase, after which he has all the top races in the division in mind for a horse already amongst the front-runners for honours – together with such as Silviniaco Conti – for the Cheltenham Gold Cup itself, in March.

The Nigel Twiston-Davies team was also very happy with the run of Double Ross, who finished a close third having led three out only to possibly blow up from the penultimate fence on his seasonal bow. Third behind Taquin de Seuil at last term’s Cheltenham Festival, before running a fine fifth behind Ma Filleule in the Topham Trophy, Double Ross is another exciting prospect in what is sure to prove a fascinating season in the three-mile chasing division.

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