The Cheltenham April Meeting provides two days of good racing in midweek, with the second day a fixture that is full of mares-only races.
While it’s towards the end of the season and doesn’t have the same potential for the future like other meetings do, it’s still two days of competitive racing, and it always takes a real effort to win a race at Cheltenham.
East India Express Catches the Eye on Day One
The biggest eye catcher on day one for me, without a doubt, was East India Express, who I think will turn into a nice handicapper to follow next season.
Trained by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Freddie Gordon on the day, this was a fairly competitive race, and he came away to win by six lengths with ease, value for more than the winning margin, in my opinion.
He’s a prolific winner who continues to go through the grades and has now won five of nine races under rules. This was a win off 129, he’s now up to 137, so when he comes back next season, that’ll be enough for him to run in some high-quality races.
There are two-and-a-half-mile handicap options for him at both the October Showcase Meeting and November Meeting, it would not be a surprise to see him come back here, given he relished the hill finish.
The feature race of the day was the Silver Trophy, a Grade Two handicap chase, and it was won by Team Skelton, aiding their Trainers Championship bid. Riskintheground was the winner, taking the race by three quarters of a length at 15/2, holding off O’Moore Park, trained by championship rival Willie Mullins.
Jax Junior took the opening race on the card, coming here to bounce back to form in calmer waters after he was pulled up in the Albert Bartlett at the Festival. This was much more up his street, and he took the race well by five and a half lengths.
Rachel Blackmore Lands Day Two Feature
The second day of this meeting features a full mares-only card, and the big race of the day was a mares novice handicap chase, where Rachel Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead would come out on top.
The Irish mare Theatre Native took the contest by 10 lengths, running out a ready winner, and rewarding backers who took the 3/1 SP on her, which made her favourite for the contest.
As a seven-year-old, and having just her fourth chase start here, there’s every chance that she takes another step forward next year.
Jubilee Alpha landed the Novice Listed hurdle a race later, trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Harry Cobden. She went into the Mares Novice Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival holding claims of a place, but she ran really poorly.
However, this was a nice bounce back outing for her, winning a good quality race, and it’ll be interesting to see where they go with her next season.
Finally, in the Challenger Series handicap hurdle final, Greyval toughed it out up the hill best of all to land a nice price. Trained by Fergal O’Brien, she was a nice winner at Chepstow a month earlier and followed it up here off a higher handicap mark.