Who wants to be a millionaire?
Meade’s Go Native isn’t just favourite for the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. Victory would also land a £1 million bonus from wbx.com for completing a stunning hurdle hat-trick.
Go Native has already landed the first two legs of the betting exchange’s Triple Crown - Newcastle’s Fighting Fifth and Kempton’s Christmas Hurdle. Since then, Meade has kept his charge off the track to have him cherry-ripe for the final challenge at the festival.
The decision looks to have paid off. Go Native will start fresher than most of his 11 rivals and the ground will be in his favour.
“Everything is good, the horse travelled great, he's in great order and I couldn't be happier with him," said Meade, who trains at Tu Va stables in Co. Meath.
“It's all systems go. He looked great this morning, he had a little breeze out on the track and he was nice and fresh. His last piece of work was pretty good all right, we were very happy with it."
Go Native, winner of last year’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, appeared destined for mediocrity when beaten by Voler La Vedette at Down Royal in November but Meade was the first to admit he had under-cooked his charge that day.
A hugely impressive victory in the Fighting Fifth proved to be no fluke when the seven-year-old followed up at Kempton.
Jockey Paul Carberry is expected to play a waiting game coming up the Cheltenham hill with Go Native having speed to burn. However, this year the final flight of hurdles has been moved 70 yards nearer to the finishing line, which will test Carberry’s timing in delivering his mount late.
One other statistic is not in Go Native’s favour - no horse has won the Supreme Novices' Hurdle and the Champion Hurdle in consecutive years since the great Bula in 1970 and 1971.
