SHOWCASE HANDICAP CHASE
Saturday 28th October, 2:25pm
Lord Accord @ 9/2
Amirite @ 9/2
Quick Draw @ 13/2
Undersupervision @ 7/1
Twig @ 8/1
Kinondo Kwetu @ 11/1
view odds
*prices correct at time of writing.
RACE
The ‘winter’ part of the jump racing season has been gradually cranking into action over the last few weeks, but such is the iconic standing of the sport’s HQ that the first two days of sixteen scheduled at Cheltenham between now and early-May – including the March 12-15 Festival – have been particularly anticipated. Torrential rain that has adversely affected some courses seems to have set things up pretty much perfectly at Prestbury Park – which has sometimes been prone to excessively dry autumns – and a strong programme offered has been rewarded with good support from either side of the Irish Sea, notably in a fiercely-competitive 3 mile, 1 furlong handicap chase at 2-25.
MARKET
Few stables have ’flown’ out of the starting gates quite like Team Twiston-Davies, and trainer Nigel and jockey Sam have a whole heap of decent chances at their local track, including the seven-year-old Undersupervision, a horse that will have had plenty of supervised jumping practice no doubt in an attempt to iron out a few errors, but when things do come completely together he should be pretty good. Quick Draw is a big player having served up a runaway success when tackling this sort of distance over fences for the first time at Ludlow recently, and last year’s winner Lord Accord (beating The Wolf emphatically) should be spot-on for a repeat after a warm-up over hurdles – just like he had twelve months ago.
Autumn sorties to Cheltenham by Henry de Bromhead have often proved lucrative, and Amirite and Whacker Clan both bring clear credentials, while two likeable ex-British point-to-pointers, Twig, trained by Fitzdares ambassador Ben Pauling, and Kinondo Kwetu, were first and third respectively in Uttoxeter’s Summer Cup; it’s worth noting that a) Kinondo Kwetu wasn’t as fluent as he might have been that day and b) he’s better off at the weights before Beau Morgan’s allowance is taken into account on Twig.
CORNELIUS’ QUARTET
Trainer Gary Moore, truly a man for all seasons, has been knocking ‘em in on the flat to great effect this year and although he’s not yet hit his formidable national hunt stride Haddex Des Obeaux (1-15) and Spirit D’Aunou (1-50) could easily get the bandwagon rolling.
Hopefully the weather won’t play too big a part at Doncaster where, in the Futurity (now 2-10) the biggest boys are due to have the biggest players – Ancient Wisdom (Godolphin) and Diego Velasquez (Coolmore, but ridden by Godolphin jockey James Doyle as Ryan Moore is suspended) – but there’s plenty of other talent too, and it’s a big day with Redhot Whisper for fledgling trainer Ben Brookhouse who’s made a strikingly good start; and, six months after his Grand National success, they’ll be rolling out the red carpet for ‘local hero’ Corach Rambler at Kelso (1-29) ahead of a season that might easily involve an attempt at the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
WINNER
At Cheltenham it’s not hard to see Kinondo Kwetu going well for the wife-and-husband team of Sam and Johnny England.
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