Cheltenham raise the curtain on their season with the opening day of the Showcase meeting on Friday and it would be no surprise if Dan and Harry Skelton take centre stage with Cooltobecareless in the Oddschecker Novices’ Hurdle.
The Alcester trainer has already thrashed his own record for the fastest century of winners as he looks to chase down Martin Pipe’s vulnerable-looking seasonal best of 243.
And there is confidence from connections that the exciting Chepstow scorer, who carries the sky blue silks of Highclere Thoroughbreds Racing, can nudge him one win closer in a Grade Two contest registered as the Sharp Novices’ Hurdle.
“He did rather blow us away to be honest,” Highclere’s managing director Harry Herbert said of the five-year-old’s 13-length romp in Monmouthshire.
“Obviously the trainer is in fantastic form and he was as bullish as ever going into the race, but we never expected him to win how he won – it was really exciting to see.
“Dan doesn’t muck around, he quickly identified this race at Cheltenham and said ‘that is what we are going to have a pop at’. We will certainly know where we stand after Friday and go from there.”
He added: “I am a great believer in going along with the trainer and definitely finding out what you’ve got. Let’s know where we stand and then we can plan accordingly. The horse is in great shape, so let’s give it a roll.
“I would say he might be better on better ground but on pedigree he would go on an easier surface. But it is early in the season, he is in great form, the jockey (Harry Skelton) is in great form and this is a special place to have a runner.”
Valgrand won the same race two years ago for Highclere and and the Skeltons, while the jockey and trainer also struck gold with Fortune De Mer last season.
Their latest challenger’s rivals include Nicky Henderson’s unbeaten four-year-old Planters Punch, who completed a hat-trick of wins at Chepstow in April, and the Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies-trained Scott’s Legacy.
The latter was well-fancied to open his account at the first time of asking last year only to flop at Hereford, but bounced back in a bumper at Southwell and was impressive at Newton Abbot on his hurdling debut last month.
“He was disappointing first time out on the course and we didn’t really know why and then he went and won his bumper very nicely,” said Willy Twiston-Davies.
“His schooling was always very good this autumn and he went and won very nicely at Newton Abbot. He is quite a pacey horse and we think he is quite nice.”
Sixpack had the form of his comfortable Warwick win boosted by Skelton’s runner-up Tralee Girl at Hexham on Tuesday and his trainer James Owen is another to believe his six-year-old deserves a crack at this level.
“He didn’t show up on his first start over hurdles for us (fourth at Southwell in July), but did what we thought he would do at Warwick,” said the Newmarket dual-purpose handler.
“He has had a good Flat season and jumped nicely at Warwick. Obviously it is a big step up in grade but his Flat form would suggest he is going to make up into quite a nice hurdler, so he deserves the chance in this kind of race.”
Ballinrobe and Navan scorer Bells Grove, trained in Ireland by Edward Buckley, brings a decent level of form across the Irish Sea, while Matiwo for Jane Williams and Tom Lacey’s consistent six-year-old gelding Eternal Angel will also have their supporters.
Governors Rock (Warren Greatrex), Spanish Darling (Alex Hales) and Kingofthefrontier (John Dawson) all bring winning form last time out to the mix to complete the line-up for the first Graded novice event of the season over the minimum trip.
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