Ratings Update: Festival chasers

Unusually testing conditions for a modern-day Cheltenham Festival was very much the theme of the week and times suggested that the ground was as its worst on Gold Cup day. The heavy going, putting the emphasis firmly on stamina, proved as decisive in the Gold Cup itself as in any race during the week, favouring confirmed stayer Native River (172 from 170) over Might Bite (171 from 172) who, to his credit, kept tabs on the winner for the vast majority of the contest, jumping superbly and travelling strongly, until found out only in the last hundred yards. The pair dominated throughout, which made for fantastic viewing, though the result revealed little new about either horse, their top-class ability proven beforehand. Behind them in a never-dangerous third, 33/1 shot Anibale Fly (164 from 159) was the apparent revelation of the race, evidently well suited by a greater test of stamina than he’d faced previously.

What a finish to the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

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— TV3 (@TV3Ireland) March 16, 2018

Similarly, the Queen Mother Champion Chase confirmed the status of Might Bite’s stable-companion Altior (179p from 177p) as simply the best jumper in training, stretching his unbeaten record over obstacles to thirteen races. Altior’s record includes three Festival wins now, his first coming in the Supreme when he beat Min (169, loses the ‘+’ from his rating) into second as he did again here.  Disappointingly, what the Champion Chase couldn’t tell us for sure was how much ability Douvan retains. He was leading when falling four out, though going with plenty of zest and looking much more his old self than when finishing lame on his previous start in the same race twelve months earlier.  

Altior gains his third Cheltenham Festival success and maintains his unbeaten record over fences (8-8) with a superb victory in the Champion Chase @CheltenhamRaces. #TheFestival

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— Racing UK (@Racing_UK) March 14, 2018

The Ryanair Chase proved a rather disappointing contest, the field of six the smallest in its history, and neither of the two previous winners of the race, Un de Sceaux and Cue Card, were at their best. Un de Sceaux fared much the better of that pair in second, though couldn’t go with Balko des Flos (167 from 165) from the home turn, last summer’s Galway Plate winner showing that his second at long odds in the Christmas Chase at Leopardstown was no fluke.  

Pride of place among the novice chasers during the week has to go to Footpad (174 from 165p) whose impressive Arkle victory, by fourteen lengths, puts him in the same sort of territory ratings-wise, at that stage of their careers, as the race’s three most recent winners Un de Sceaux, Douvan and Altior. Footpad’s two main rivals might have cut each other’s throats, but rather than flatter him, it only served to show more fully what he’s capable of. He’d clearly be an interesting addition to the top two-mile chasing scene next season, though is already proven over further.

Footpad cruises to the Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices' Chase winner at @CheltenhamRaces.

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— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 13, 2018

The other standout performance among the novices was Presenting Percy (163p from 158) who was always going well in the RSA in which he stayed on to beat Monalee (remains 156p) by seven lengths. The runner-up barely put a foot wrong either but simply came up against an above-average RSA winner who still needs to improve further to be a Gold Cup winner but looks tailor-made for the race. He’s not dependent on the mud to be seen to best effect as he proved when winning last year’s Pertemps Final on good ground.

Soft ground, on the other hand, might be more crucial for the mare Shattered Love (154p from 145) who made it five out of six over fences in the JLT. Although improving further, it was more a case of her overcoming a drop in trip, rather than benefiting from it, and she’ll do better again back at three miles, already having another Grade 1 win to her name at that trip in Ireland this season.

Shattered Love’s stable-companion Jury Duty had beaten both her and Presenting Percy at Punchestown earlier in the season, though Jury Duty failed to stay when sent off favourite for a gruelling edition of the National Hunt Chase (held when unseating two out). Most of the field failed to complete, in fact, though the ten-year-old winner Rathvinden (152 from 150) showed abundant stamina and resolution.

Raising the ratings ceiling of the Festival’s novices’ handicap chase from 140 to 145 meant that there was an 8 lb spread in the weights carried (compared with just 3 lb the year before), and it was the most lightly-weighted runner Mister Whitaker (146p from 140p) who came out on top by a head from Rather Be (152p from 147p). Both the first two are worth following, the progressive winner being a sound jumper with an excellent attitude and the physical scope to improve further.

By and large, the Festival’s other handicap chases went to progressive youngsters. That was the case in the Ultima Handicap Chase won by six-year-old novice Coo Star Sivola (148p from 145p), while the seven-year-olds The Storyteller (154p from 151p), another novice, and Le Prezien (157x from 151x) took the Plate and the Grand Annual respectively. The Paul Nicholls-trained Le Prezien could make his mark outside handicaps if his jumping, which has tended to let him down in the past, remains error-free.

The first two in last year’s National Hunt Chase were both successful at this year’s Festival, with Tiger Roll matching his smart form (149§) over conventional fences to win the Glenfarclas Chase over the cross-country course, his third success in all at the Festival. Meanwhile, Missed Approach (144 from 141) went one better than in the four-miler the year before when benefiting from a well-judged ride, and quite possibly a recent wind operation, to beat former Pertemps Final winner Mall Dini (149 from 145+) in the Kim Muir for amateur riders. A stablemate of Presenting Percy (both from the small yard of Pat Kelly), Mall Dini is yet to win over fences but he’d look well-in if turned out again for the Irish National in a few weeks.