Dow over the Moon about Arabian's Festival chance

A horse who likes fast ground, a race run at a good clip and likely to go off at a very attractive price is often a handy one to have on your side for the Coral Cup at Cheltenham.

The hurdle, introduced to the Festival in 1993, has fallen to a double-priced runner on seven of its nine runnings, so the huge odds currently on offer about Arabian Moon should not deter his supporters from having a healthy each-way wager, especially as Ilnamar returned the 25-1 winner last year and What’s Up Boys was 33-1 when producing a devastating finishing burst in 2000.

Arabian Moon is housed in the predominately Flat-based yard of Epsom handler Simon Dow, who has gone close to Festival success before but has, by his own admission, not been able to travel to the three-day spectacular with genuine hope of shaking up the big boys for quite some time. Until now, that is.

“He’s in great form,” Dow said. “He had a prep run at Lingfield and ran pretty ordinarily to be honest when we thought he’d run well. But we’ve checked him out, he seems in great form and to be fair the race wasn‘t run to suit him there.

“He seems very well in himself and is an intended runner unless the ground comes up soft.”

Winning form around Prestbury Park is also an added bonus and the Barathea seven-year-old, who is still an entire, caught the eye when jumping and travelling well to score there on the quick ground he loves in October.

The handicapper was also impressed and Arabian Moon has risen in the weights as a result, but is on 10st 12lbs for the Coral Cup and consequently sure of a run.

“He’ll get in and is a course winner,” Dow said. “He seemed better than ever over hurdles in the autumn and is certainly going very well, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”

Arabian Moon, three times a winner on the Flat when with Clive Brittain, is close to Dow’s heart and the fact he is still an entire is not by chance.

“We’ve nominated him for the Nakayama Grand Jump in Japan and although he won’t get in that, certainly not this year anyway, we’ll see what sort of progress he makes because we want to market him as a National Hunt stallion,” revealed Dow. “If he can win at Cheltenham or run well it would obviously help things a lot.”

A stint in the stallion shed is a way off yet though, and Arabian Moon could be seen in yet another sphere in the near future as he could be tried over fences at some point.

“That would be another route for him if you were trying to highlight his athletic skills. He’s a brilliant jumper and the sort of horse that could go summer jumping over fences or next autumn. You could have a lot of fun with him,” Dow said.

The trainer is sure his charge, who is on a hat-trick after outstaying fellow Festival hope Spectrometer at Fontwell before his Cheltenham win, is no forlorn hope despite Ladbrokes’ rather dismissive quote of 66-1.

“A proper each-way chance – a solid each-way chance if the race went right for him,” is how he described his runner’s prospects.

“He likes a strong pace and is sure to get that, and it’s nearly always decent ground at Cheltenham.”

A repeat of events at the Festival in 1994 would do nicely this time.

“Dark Honey was my first runner there and was beaten a short head with 12st (at 20-1) by Tindari in the Gold Card Final. Then Nahar was fourth in the County Hurdle, beaten not very far (a length at 25-1),” he said.

“We’ve had a couple of runners since but never really had a good jumper since Chief’s Song. He won at Cheltenham but always ran a stinker at the Festival and we’ve not had anything since that’s been half good enough.”

Cheltenham fever is hard to avoid at present and the master of Clear Height Stables is looking forward to it as much as anyone.

“It’s very exciting,” he said. “We are hoping for a decent Flat season, having had a good campaign last year and although we’ve had a pretty ordinary winter, we are trying to build on that and to have a jumper like Arabian Moon in the yard is very exciting.”

And what would a Cheltenham Festival winner mean?

“It would be a big kick, of course. It’s one of those things every trainer dreams of,” added Dow.

“My heart lies with Flat racing but I’d love to have five or six Arabian Moons in the yard. That would be fantastic.”