Liberman can make mark
The form of his Cheltenham Festival success could not have worked out better, with winners galore coming out of the race.
Supporters of the David Johnson-owned gelding have had to be patient as the five-year-old missed his intended reappearance at Kempton last month as his blood was not quite right.
He was also taken out of a novice hurdle at Cheltenham last weekend as Martin Pipe wanted to give him an easy first run over hurdles. The Nicholashayne trainer has plumped for this Class E contest over two and a half miles.
His five rivals should not be in the same league and Liberman ought gain a confidence-boosting success on the way to much better things.
Liberman is part of a five-horse raid by Pipe and record-breaking jockey Tony McCoy and it can pay off with a treble.
Contraband can get the ball rolling by following up a recent Taunton success in the Whitecraig Novices’ Hurdle.
This former useful Flat performer trotted up by a distance from In The Stars at the Somerset track. He had finished a slightly disappointing third on his debut at Cheltenham, but only two smart hurdlers, Self Defense and Albuhera, were ahead of him.
Korelo can complete the hat-trick for Pipe and McCoy in the Port Seton Novices’ Chase.
The five-year-old, winner of last season’s Imperial Cup, was placed over fences in his native France and made a pleasing bow in England when fourth to L’Ange Au Ciel earlier this month.
At Folkestone, Lord Halfnothin can complete a four-timer in the David Edwards Memorial Handicap Chase.
Robert Alner’s seven-year-old has already triumphed at Fontwell, Folkestone and Leicester and is obviously going the right way.
Miss Champers can score at Southwell for the third time in eight days by taking division one of the Bet Direct In Vision Sky Page 293 Handicap.
The three-year-old’s recent winning streak began last Monday when she got the better of Ellen Mooney by two and a half lengths.
Trainer David Evans took her back to the Nottinghamshire track only last Friday, when she accounted for Rock Concert by a length and a half.
Both those wins were over a mile, but even the drop in trip to seven furlongs is unlikely to prevent supporters of Miss Champers from cracking open the bubbly again.
Evans sent out Madame Jones to register 12 wins in 2001 and the Abergavenny trainer looks to have found a successor to that amazing mare.
