Ratings Update: Bristol on road to Cheltenham

With Ascot’s Clarence House Chase card succumbing to the icy conditions in the South, Haydock was left to fly the flag for British jump racing on Saturday, and thankfully it provided an excellent seven-race card that was well worthy of taking centre stage on a Saturday afternoon.

The opening Grade 2, a two-and-a-half-mile novice chase, was a strong renewal in which the impressive Noel Novices’ Chase winner Politologue was sent off 6/4 favourite ahead of Malcolm Jefferson’s Waiting Patiently, who also had a couple of novice wins under his belt already. Though Politologue lost his unbeaten record over fences, he emerged with plenty of credit as he finished a length and a quarter behind his chief market rival, conceding 3 lb in the process and having raced prominently up with a strong pace throughout. Politologue is now Timeform rated c152 (from c148p), with the winner, who was aided by the way the race unfolded, now rated c150p (from c146p). Waiting Patiently will only run at the Cheltenham Festival if the ground is soft, according to his trainer.

The North triumphed in the first Grade 2, but normal service was resumed in the second as Harry Fry’s Neon Wolf ran out a very impressive winner of the Rossington Main Novices' Hurdle. The 5/4-on favourite looked a novice out of the top drawer, with his sharp turn of foot early in the straight sealing the race a long way from home. Neon Wolf is now rated h148P after just two starts over timber, and he would be a major contender for one of the novices at Cheltenham, though again connections were not keen to commit to a race at the Festival, with Fry suggesting that quicker ground would be off-putting.

One horse that will almost certainly be Cheltenham Festival bound is The New One, who recorded his third successive win in Haydock’s Champion Hurdle Trial. The New One has a tendency to make the odd mistake over his hurdles these days (rated h162x) and again made things hard for himself with a few less-than-fluent leaps here. That said, he didn’t have to be at his best to see off his disappointing market rival L’Ami Serge (who was found to have bled after the race), but showed great willingness under pressure to see off Clyne, who seemed to excel himself (now rated h142+). The New One will either head to the Champion Hurdle or the Stayers’ Hurdle – and he's certainly worth a go in the latter, in our opinion.

Nigel Twiston-Davies looked to have another Festival contender on his hands in the Peter Marsh Chase, too, with Bristol de Mai showing much improved form to win by 22 lengths. That winning margin was exaggerated given some of his opponents made late mistakes, and it is possible that this sort of performance may be something of a one-off given conditions were perfect for such an effort and he was a wide-margin winner of the Grade 2 novice on the same card last season. However, it was still a high-class effort from Bristol de Mai and he is now rated 165 (from 155). He's still only six, so worth his place in the Cheltenham Gold Cup field.

The Grade 3 novice chase at Leopardstown on Sunday has produced a few Gold Cup-level horses in recent years, including Sir des Champs and Djakadam, as well as the likes of Vautour. Unsurprisingly Willie Mullins had the answer once again, with three-time Grade 1-winning hurdler Yorkhill maintaining his unbeaten record over fences in smooth fashion. Even though he was only a length and a quarter ahead of Jett at the line, Yorkhill’s hard-held win puts him in the upper range of this season’s novice chasers (rated c148P) and it's no surprise he's a short price for the JLT.