The Cheltenham November Meeting takes place this week, one of the real traditional highlights of the early jumps season.
We’ve got a slightly different feel than normal after a few race changes, notably, the Shloer Chase will now feature on Friday’s card, which definitely means the meeting starts with a bigger bang than it ever has before.
Let’s look at the three days separately, and what you can expect from the weekend.
Friday – Shloer Chase Day
There’s one horse that could steal the show on Friday, and that’s Jonbon, who is set to begin his campaign in the Shloer Chase, a race where he started, and won, 12 months ago.
He’s one of the best two mil chasers in training, a neck defeat in the Clarence House over course and distance last January being his only defeat last season. He would win three times at Grade One level last season, including the Tingle Creek at Sandown, likely his next stop after the Shloer, if things go well.
Elsewhere on the card, we have the first Cross Country race of the season. Despite being a handicap, this could attract runners such as Galvin, Delta Work and Coko Beach at the top of the weights, with Gordon Elliott holding an incredibly strong hand at the entry stage.
Finally, one for the notebook is definitely Valgrand in the Grade Two Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle. A highly progressive runner for Dan Skelton, he’s three from three over hurdles including a 17 length Grade Two win at this course in October.
Going up in distance, he’s got to give weight to his rivals, and this is a better race, but he could be about to show us how good he really is.
Saturday – Paddy Power Gold Cup Day
When you think of the Paddy Power Gold Cup, it immediately brings thoughts of being a strong early season race, where the winners go on to be top quality horses. But a little dive into the stats shows otherwise.
This is a race that often leaves horses struggling afterwards. Just one of the last 12 winners would win again during the same season, and of those 12 winners, eight went to the Cheltenham Festival in the following March, but none won.
Despite that negative, it’s a great race, and Ginny’s Destiny for Paul Nicholls looks set to lead the market. A second season chaser, he won three times at Cheltenham last season, and ended his campaign with a second in Grade One events at the Cheltenham Festival and Grand National Festival.
Elsewhere, the likes of Ga Law, Imagine and Il Ridoto add real strength in depth to the field.
Kicking off the card on Saturday we have a Grade Two juvenile hurdle where trainer James Owen looks set to hold a strong chance, regardless of whether East India Dock or Liam Swagger is his representative, both look above average early in the season.
It’s early to start thinking about the Triumph Hurdle, but this trainer knows what he’s doing with juvenile hurdlers, and should either win, they would become a serious contender for March.
L’Eau du Sud was a very impressive 10 length winner on chase debut last time out for the Dan Skelton team when winning a small race at Stratford. We’ll get to see how good he is if he contest the Grade Two Arkle Trial on the card, as right now he really could be anything.
Sunday – Greatwood Hurdle Day
The Greatwood Hurdle headlines the third and final day of the meeting, and leading the early betting are two very unexposed runners.
Burdett Road was favourite for the Triumph Hurdle last season until injury ruled him out, while Dysart Enos is a perfect six from six under rules and faces the toughest test of her career so far if she runs here.
The Paul Nicholls trained Liari and Dan Skelton trained Be Aware are two other unexposed runners who could be contending this on Sunday.
A race earlier and there’s a long distance premier handicap that could be worth a watching brief with the future in mind.
Perhaps most notably for Nassalam if he runs, winner of the Welsh Grand National last winter, this looks like being a prep run with that in mind. He needs further than this and softer ground, but if he jumps well and runs a decent race, it could be a Welsh National pointer.
As ever the Cheltenham November Meeting looks a weekend full of quality and future pointers.