Sponsors wary of Penzance
Penzance is the horse the sponsors fear in the totesport Trophy at Newbury on Saturday.
Last season’s Triumph Hurdle winner is 13-2 joint-favourite along with the Paul Nicholls-trained Noland for the £125,000 (€182,500) handicap hurdle.
Totesport spokesman Damian Walker said: “Penzance is a horse we have tried to keep on our side yet have still laid plenty of.
“The money we have seen for Penzance suggests he is probably the one they will all have to beat come Saturday.”
However, Penzance could have a new jockey.
Robert Thornton has partnered the Alan King-trained five-year-old in all his six races over jumps, but he may be required at Warwick to ride stable companion Voy Por Ustedes in the Blue Square Kingmaker Novices’ Chase.
“Robert might be going to Warwick to ride Voy Por Ustedes for Alan. He’s probably keener not to switch novice chase jockeys around than hurdlers, but he (Penzance) is a straightforward ride and Alan’s not too worried about that,” said Matthew Budden, racing manager to owners the Elite Racing Club.
“He’s in good form and hopefully we’ll see him back to his best.”
Penzance, set to carry 10st 9lb, won all his four races as a juvenile culminating in the Triumph at Cheltenham, but he has been beaten in both his starts this term.
“We’ll be happy if the weights stay as they are,” Budden continued. “Obviously we want one of the top weights to run as it would keep him on a handy weight.
“It’s all systems go for Saturday. He’s very well. He’s been in really good form and we’re looking forward to it.
“Our feeling is he wants faster ground than he’s had to race on through the winter, which is why we deliberately left him out of some races because of soft or heavy ground.”
Irish trainer Paul Nolan will wait until later in the week before deciding whether to bring over Escrea.
The seven-year-old mare was sent off a well-fancied 7-1 chance for the ultra-competitive Pierse Hurdle at Leopardstown last time out after a comfortable victory at the same track over Christmas.
She could only finish seventh to Studmaster, but Nolan believes the testing ground was against her that day and he is hoping for firmer conditions underfoot at the Berkshire track.
“It all depends on the ground for Escrea,” he said.
“We don’t want to send her over on quick ground. The day she won at Leopardstown it was beautiful ground, yielding, but in the Pierse she didn’t handle the soft as well. She had gone up a fair bit in the weights though.”
Another Irish challenger, Al Eile, heads the 36 horses confirmed for the weekend’s race.
John Queally’s charge, third behind compatriot Essex 12 months ago, enhanced his prospects with victory in Haydock’s Champion Hurdle Trial recently.
Placed off 11st last year, he is lumbered with top weight of 11st 12lb in the £125,000 handicap hurdle this time.
All the leading fancies in the ante-post market have stood their ground including another Irish hopeful, Studmaster.
However, Jessica Harrington’s Pierse Hurdle winner is not guaranteed a run in a maximum 27-runner line-up. He needs several horses to come out despite incurring a 4lb penalty for his Leopardstown success.
There are two other Irish possibles – Tom Foley’s Royal Paradise and Noel Meade’s Arch Rebel.
Acambo is among Martin Pipe’s team of six despite finishing only fifth behind Crow Wood at Musselburgh on Sunday.
The champion trainer has also left in Desert Air, Buena Vista, Fontanesi, Nous Voila and Miss Academy while Nicholls has left in Noland and Natal
Other interesting acceptors include Jonjo O’Neill’s pair Intersky Falcon and Cherub, Howard Johnson’s Akilak and the Venetia Williams-trained Chief Yeoman.
The ground at Newbury is described as good after a total of 12 millimetres of water was put on the track in the past week.
Clerk of the course Richard Osgood said: “I don’t think we will water any further. We have done what we want to do.
“The other thing is that the weather is getting slightly colder at the weekend.
“That’s why we don’t want to do too much and the other reason is we want what we have watered to soak well into the ground so that it’s in better condition.”
