Thistlecrack still a work in progress
The reason he is favourite is due to two factors, the eight-year- old is simply a brilliant horse and because there are currently big question marks against most of his main rivals.
But, at the same time, it is essentially illogical that the market can be led by a total novice, who has only two races over fences under his belt.
Thistlecrack makes for compulsive viewing and there can hardly be a follower of racing in Britain and Ireland who hasn’t watched his opening two efforts as a chaser.
Really good first time up at Chepstow, he has a powerful spring when meeting a fence and shaped as an absolute natural.
Thistlecrack then had his second go at Cheltenham last Saturday and this wasn’t quite as satisfactory. Basically, he never left second gear to beat Henry de Bromhead’s Marinero by three and three parts of a length, but not before giving the fifth obstacle a right belting.
Otherwise, his jumping was rather good and I have heard it described in some quarters as exuberant.
It was certainly exuberant and, indeed, enthusiastic, but on occasions a little too extravagant for my liking. He does have a tendency to stand a long way off a fence and also to expend far more energy than is necessary when clearing what’s in front of him, sometimes with feet to spare.
That’s fine contesting modest races at Chepstow and Cheltenham, but wouldn’t do at all when taking on battle-hardened opposition.
Thistlecrack, of course, is a work in progress and possesses staggering potential. He’s won 11 of his 16 races and his last seven.
He went through all of last season unbeaten, winning five times over flights, three Grade 1’s and two Grade 2’s.
Indeed, he hasn’t tasted defeat since the Punchestown festival of 2015, going down by half a length to Killultagh Vic. And he should have won that day as well, after Tom Scudamore found all the trouble that was going.
When you look at the betting for the Gold Cup you quickly discover that finding a viable alternative, with the possible exception of Valseur Lido, at least at the moment, isn’t that easy.
Coneygree, winner of the Gold Cup last year, returns from long-term injury at Haydock today and that will tell us plenty.
This year’s Gold Cup winner, Don Cossack, has also had problems, but back in training. If we’re lucky, we may see him once before Cheltenham.
After that you have Djakadam, who has been found wanting before, and Cue Card, who has no scope for improvement.
Then there’s Douvan and it is going to be fascinating to see how he is campaigned by Willie Mullins, considering he’s never raced beyond two miles and a furlong.
On ATR the other day Matt Chapman was going on about the manner in which Thistlecrack dismissed a horse as talented as Marinero at Cheltenham.
I’ll tell you what, though, if we don’t have a dozen novices in this country that aren’t better than Marinero then here’s one who would be more than surprised.
Thistlecrack is going to have us talking for the rest of the season, but 7-2 right now for the Gold Cup- no thanks.
of the disappointing aspects of National Hunt racing for a while now has been the failure of Barry Connell-owned horses to make a real impact.
The likes of Rich Ricci, Gigginstown, J P McManus and Graham Wylie are powering ahead, but that has not been the case with Connell.
He has put a lot of money into the game and deserves better. Connell lost, arguably, the best horse he has ever owned when Our Conor took a fatal fall at the third in the 2014 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. He is rumoured to have cost him 1m Euro.
Partnered then by retained rider, Danny Mullins, he was subsequently replaced by Adrian Heskin, whose services have also been dispensed with in the meantime.
Now Denis O’Regan is retained by Connell, but it has been far from smooth sailing, with the pilot having been afforded limited opportunities to flaunt his talent thus far.
Navan last Sunday, however, offered real hope in the shape of Martello Tower, trained for Connell by Mags Mullins.
Successful in the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham last year, Martello Tower had only run three times since that day, prior to Navan.
He didn’t win any of them and clearly has had his issues. But making his seasonal debut on Sunday, and having a first excursion over fences, Martello Tower performed with a lot of promise.
The trip, two miles and a furlong, was well short of his best and it was no surprise he was beaten for speed from the back of the final fence, failing by three parts of a length to cope with Anibale Fly.
Martello Tower’s jumping, however, was terrific and he never flinched all the way to the line.
Stepping up in distance, he should be hard to beat next time and give Connell, and us punters, something about which to smile.
National Hunt game continues to be far more competitive than we were expecting and the trend very much continued last weekend.
Between Naas on Saturday and Navan on Sunday we had 14 races and just two odds-on favourites.
Both of those hot-pots were beaten to boot.
Fairyhouse on Wednesday and Clonmel on Thursday weren’t too bad either, with four odds-on shots in 14 races. Two of them were beaten.
