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2025 National Hunt Challenge Cup Novices' Handicap Chase

For me, this is effectively a new race - and. fascinating one.

Could Nick Gifford have one for this in Aworkinprogress?

And though he's had a hike I'd say 3m round Kempton is very much a minimum for Katate Dori, who can return to novice company over much further in this, though he's also got other options.
 
Racing Post; Martin Greenwood, responsible for rating the chasers, said the Irish-trained National Hunt Chase contender Now Is The Hour proved the trickiest to assess over fences. The eight-year-old was rated 139, 4lb higher than his Irish mark.

Gavin Cromwell's runner had been hiked 10lb by the Irish assessor following his eyecatching fourth in a beginners’ chase at Navan last month.

“Now Is The Hour is the most interesting horse in the National Hunt Chase,” said Greenwood. “There was a bit of controversy in that last run, which caught the eye of a lot of people.

“Personally, if that’s the only Irish race you’ve ever watched and you thought there was a problem with the running and riding then you don’t watch enough Irish racing. I put him up 4lb and was happy to give it a mark.

“I don’t think that's the end of his ability and he’s unexposed. I think he’s interesting, but he’s 7-2 and that might grab people’s imagination.”
 
Continuing my theme of myopically believing every Handicap at this fixture could be the subject of a McManus targetted plan, Aworkinprogress and So Majeste are the duo I've got an eye on here.

The former may be confused by being diverted from Lingfield Park to Prestbury Park, but seems on a fair mark still despite his sequence and looks a staying type.

I'd say Sa Majeste might be considered less obviously well treated, but he's only a 7yo and he looked the right sort for this to me at Fairyhouse last time out.
 
The final field....

Duffle Coat
Resplendent Grey
Stuzzikini
Captain Cody
Now Is The Hour
Haiti Couleurs
In D’Or
Hasthing
Transmission
No Time To Wait
Will Do
Rock My Way
Gericault Roque
Herakles Westwood
Klarc Kent
Kyntata
Caesar Rock
Jupiter Allen

Reserve: Aworkinprogress

I will add a betting link as soon as I see one on Oddschecker.
 
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Rather boringly, I think the favourite, Now Is The Hour, has a favourite's chance.

He showed how talented he is and how well he stays when annihilating Don't Rightly Know at Haydock as a novice hurdler and 139 looks a potential gift.

But drying ground might be a question mark.

I'm also quite interested in Hasthing because I've seen him run, the connections suggest this may have been the ultimate target for a while and although it's a big step up on trip, he's the sort who to my eye runs in snatches a bit but relentlessly keeps finding under pressure and might just thrive more than ever at this trip.
 
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Robicheaux said:
Gericault Roque looks a well handicapped horse.
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I agree. I haven't backed it (yet) and I was half-hoping for 33s or better but obviously that aint gonna happen.

I have to say changing this to a handicap has fvcked this race right up for me. It used to be one of the races I could be very confident would at least cover my first day's punting since there was always one or two outstanding candidates on the pick of their hurdling form, usually G1ers.

Now I'm having to actually work at trying to find the damn winner and I might not find it :mad:
 
Lydia Hislop was very keen on the chances of Gericault Roque on Paddy Power’s ultimate Cheltenham preview which is on YouTube. 2nd in the 2022 Ultima then 3rd in that year’s Hennessy (or whatever it was called) before a couple of years on the sidelines. He returned at Windsor in January and was entitled to get tired late on. More appeal at the 20/1+ when Lydia put him up less so at about 12/1 now
 
viking said:
Lydia Hislop was very keen on the chances of Gericault Roque on Paddy Power’s ultimate Cheltenham preview which is on YouTube. 2nd in the 2022 Ultima then 3rd in that year’s Hennessy (or whatever it was called) before a couple of years on the sidelines. He returned at Windsor in January and was entitled to get tired late on. More appeal at the 20/1+ when Lydia put him up less so at about 12/1 now
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When I started following racing as a teenager in the late 1990s I used to enjoy reading Lydia's articles in the Evening Standard, I think it was back then.

I'll have Gericault in the yankee.
 
I have a slightly different perspective on her.

I remember her as a trainee on The Sporting Life.

She worked harder than most of the rest of the office put together and richly deserves her media success, but tbh I never had her down as much of a judge.

I'd be more inclined to back the horse because Robicheaux fancies it tbh.
 
I'm inclined to back it because of a variety of reasons, Ian. Including our own forumites appraisal.

I spoke to Lydia once or twice privately about horse racing issues on The Racing Forum and she was very friendly to an outsider like me, so that gave more kudos to her as a Journalist and individual as far as I'm concerned.

I don't get carried away by who are the judges. I remember praising Alisdair Down once to an old member for his racing articles and they had a similar dig at him.

Each to their own.
 
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Lydia (lovely lady) was a patron of our racing club and we used to chat about growing up as racing mad children. I think she’d be the first to admit that her heart rules her head sometimes when it comes to the horses. I always remember queuing for the ladies loo at Uttoxeter next to Jenny Pitman (scary lady) and, with it being around the time of the Golden Freeze controversy,
hoping that she didn’t pick up on any bad vibes coming from me. And, while we’re on the subject of ladies in racing I don’t really want to go against Rebecca Curtis’s (underrated lady) horse. . I’m sure that she had a winner at the Punchestown Festival many years ago when British trainers rarely won there (we were travelling around at the time and weren’t at the track that day). She used to get an unknown jockey called Paul Townend to ride for her.
 
Yes, nothing wrong with that, Ian.

I was looking through final fields earlier and fancied the horse a bit myself, so when I saw it mentioned on here, with Lydia's appraisal or without, I knew I'd stick it in the yankee!
 
Lots of short-priced horses based on form in mud encountering a possibly-quicker surface is my current first-day angle.

If the CoC leaves the taps alone there might be value to be had.

Gericault Roque ran a stormer in a "Hennessy" they broke standard in, is an outrageous 8lb lower here, is still only nine and still qualifies as a novice - he can't be out the five! 😂
 
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Ian_Davies said:
Lots of short-priced horses based on form in mud encountering a possibly-quicker surface is my current first-day angle.

If the CoC leaves the taps alone there might be value to be had.

Geticault Roque ran a stormer in a "Hennessy" they broke standard in, is an outrageous 8lb lower here, is still only nine and still qualifies as a novice - he can't be out the five! 😂
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Yes, I get this.

There'll be horses coming over especially from Ireland who've only ran on soft or heavy whose performance will either markedly increase or decrease on better ground, with perhaps not much in between.

If you are backing each way in races like the Supreme this is a key angle.
 
I could see Irancy running alright in that - he's only won a Maiden Hurdle, but at least he's shown he can handle Good ground.

The fav looks a world beater - and maybe he is - but this might be the fastest ground he's encountered.
 
I really want David Pipe to do well. Such memories of seeing him and David Johnson at the pre parade ring in the box to the right. Always smiling and first to congratulate people.
 
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