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The main Christmas present having been used, watched, drunk, read, worn or, in most cases, refunded by now, it’s often the all-important second- and third-string gifts that keep the home fires burning and the boredom back-burning.
Taking that lead with racing, where the primary presents over Christmas need no analytical unwrapping and drew their own dreamy battlelines for future fights, Thistlecrack vs Douvan and Altior vs Min, here’s a shortlist of ten performances from the festive period that, like the Roquefort on the cheeseboard, didn’t get the plaudits it deserves due to so much other goody-gorging but carry plenty of weight.
Sunderland holding Liverpool, so little frost and Sherlock disappearing up its own backside were all surprises over Christmas, but it was almost unthinkable that Housesofparliament, classic placed and Timeform rated 118 on the Flat, wouldn’t even go off favourite for a mere maiden on his hurdling debut, wasn’t it? But we were betting without Willie Mullins, in a race betting with Meri Devie.
Apple’s Jade ran to a big figure of 137 on her debut for Willie Mullins around the same time last year, though that was a Grade 2, having already won a juvenile hurdle in France. It involves some calculated creativity, as is required in a falsely-run race where the closing sectional says more than the overall time, relative to other contests on the card, but Timeform’s assessment of Meri Devie is 139p, putting her second only to Defi du Seuil in the juvenile rankings, and that’s after just one run compared to his four.
There were some big statements made over Christmas, but none said so much so soon as Meri Devie.
I’ll see Meri Devie’s 139 small ‘p’ and raise you a 139 large ‘P’ belonging to Charli Parcs. His starting price preceded his demolition job at Kempton, his sales price (€250,000) preceded his starting price, and his reputation clearly preceded his sales price, following a winning debut in France.
Between them, Meri Devie and Charli Parcs have blasted the juvenile division open, both looking stars of the future.
A substandard Grade 1 that’s difficult to evaluate because so many blundered away their chance. A fair summary of the latest Kauto Star Novices’ Chase, but also of the 2014 edition, when we unwittingly witnessed a monster at work, Coneygree doing to that flawed field what he did to the Gold Cup field three months later. The shortcomings of a race can sometimes disguise a horse’s worth, as can a fall, but Might Bite made his compiling class pretty clear before a difference of opinion with his rider and the last, when the best part of 20 lengths clear.
Coneygree was still, purely in time terms, 40 lb short of Silviniaco Conti’s performance in the King George that day. By our reckoning, had he completed, Might Bite would have been only 6 lb slower than Thistlecrack. We’re joining dots, but they’re certainly Grade 1 dots.
Might Bite is on an RSA collision course with Bellshill, who took a second sure-footed step in that direction in a Grade 2 at Limerick on Boxing Day, but the one who chased him home, Haymount, is gradually promoting his way to the bigger leagues, too. He’s slightly deceptive in that he probably needs more of a trip than his travelling and jumping can make it look, and setting a stronger pace than he did at Limerick might have asked a bigger question of Bellshill, still running well to be beaten just over 3 lengths, with most of the damage done on the run-in.
Haymount, who had made fairly short work of Coney Island on their chasing debut at Punchestown, has the look and feel of a 160 chaser slowly being uncovered, and the big reveal may come over three miles.
It says plenty for Gordon Elliott that he’s still buzzing around at the top of the Irish trainers table despite several almighty swats by Mullins over Christmas, and another €9,500 was being counted into the coffers when Runfordave cruised into the lead at Limerick on Boxing Day, the ball rolling, only to take his eye of it at the second-last. It was a costly mistake for a costly horse, who was bid all the way up €100,000 at the sales as a three-year-old, but eight-tenths of Limerick showed that Runfordave is really getting his act together, ready for take-off under the right circumstances.
Those right circumstances could easily be the Martin Pipe Handicap at the Festival, one of the few Cheltenham races that isn’t priced up for now, exactly because of horses like Runfordave, but he looks tailor-made for those demands, now he’s in the groove, so keep an eye out.
It’s not an original thought, I know, but it is worth repeating that My Tent Or Yours and the Betfair Hurdle is increasingly looking a match made – and a plan laid – in heaven. Eight defeats on the spin perhaps say more about the races he’s contested than his personal standards, the environment taking the shine off him, and the feeling is that the embers may still reignite an explosion for an end-to-end gallop in a top-end handicap where he’s the boss.
A mark of 154 – only 5 lb higher than when he won the 2013 Betfair and as much as a stone lower than when he contested the 2014 Scottish Champion Hurdle – is a particularly dangly and tempting carrot for a horse who has still shown flashes of his old self in unsuitable races this season, effectively used as a negotiator for Yanworth in the Christmas Hurdle.
From one golden oldie with designs on a last hurrah to another. He didn’t exactly roll back the years, but there was a revolution of sorts when Foxrock won a hunter chase at Down Royal on Boxing Day. Some seek solace in veterans’ chases (see Dynaste this weekend), others delve deeper into hunters, and Foxrock could mop up in this game, though, thanks to Ted Walsh, there’ll be no guessing or double-guessing as to his eligibility for Cheltenham, having already clarified that a placing in Graded company last term disqualifies him from the main events in Britain…for this season at least.
On The Fringe can rest easy.
Contesting one is hard, two is taxing and three is plain torture, so it says a lot about Bacardys’ ability and durability that he was placed in each of the three championship bumpers at the festivals, winning the middle leg at Aintree. Hurdles have almost got in his way this season, falling at Cork and fluffing a few at Leopardstown over Christmas. That he still managed to win at Leopardstown is ominous for the staying novice hurdlers with Cheltenham aspirations, as there’s a pool of improvement for his jumping and an ocean of it for his stamina.
It will only take one polished performance from him to blip brightly on the Cheltenham radar, for now only on the periphery, due to his ragged start and his royal stable, where there’s a plethora of princes and princesses to take the headlines.
Talking of princes and princesses, the legendary line ‘there were three of us in this marriage’ could be corrupted to ‘there were three of us in this race,’ referencing last year’s Supreme. The division has been reduced to the Altior & Min show, both impressing in every regard since chasing, but Buveur d’Air is right behind them, figuratively in the Supreme form and metaphorically for the start he’s made over fences, lower key but still tinged with taser-like electricity at Haydock and Warwick.
When it comes to Cheltenham, he could again be caught between a rock and a hard place, or Yorkhill as the hard place is otherwise known, but Buveur d’Air could himself go all the way to the top over fences.
Though regaining the winning thread in the Grade 2 race that was the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle, Vroum Vroum Mag was wobbling a bit at the end of three miles and a few cracks have appeared in her armour this season. Fortunately for all concerned, the new Vroum Vroum Mag arrived at Limerick last week, namely Benie des Dieux.
The class conveyor belt feeding in from France to Mullins is matched only in predictability by the critical conveyor belt that she’ll have to go through, of accusation before admiration, saying she’s beating nothing while she’s beating everything put in front of her through her inevitable sequence. But her jumping at Limerick on her Irish debut was a joy to behold, and Benie des Dieux, in every way, looks the next big thing on the mares scene.
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