Recapping the highs and lows of Trials Weekend, plus a bet for a Festival handicap.

From a personal point of view, Trials weekend at Cheltenham and the racing at Doncaster went about as well as possible as far as my own Ante Post bets are concerned. The crowning moment being last week’s ante post bet, Sir Gino, bolting up in the Triumph Trial while also bursting the Burdett Road bubble in very impressive fashion. His time in winning that race was better and his final furlong time quicker than the ultra impressive International winner Lossiemouth, whom he carried 5lbs more than. He is now the big favourite for the Triumph with odds of 6/4.

Ginny’s Destiny put up a really strong performance when carrying top weight to win the Novices Handicap Chase, a race Nicholls won last year with Stage Star before that horse went on to win the Turners at the Festival. Ginny’s Destiny is a horse I really like and his previous win was a great success against Grey Dawning, a Grade 2 winner, with the third, Trelawne, then second in the Grade Two Towton on his next start. As the horse seems to love Cheltenham, that being his 3rd win there this season, at odds of 8/1, you can't write him off in the Turners. Especially as it's not clear where current favourite Gaelic Warrior will end up, although I myself reckon it will be in the Turners where he runs.

It was a good win for Ga Law in the Paddy Power Handicap after not looking so good in the higher grade races recently and seemingly benefitting for a drop back in trip. I fear he may be handicapped out of following up in the Plate, although I can’t 100% write him off quite yet after two wins in intermediate distance handicaps at Cheltenham. He doesn’t have a Ryanair entry this year after finishing 5th in that race last year, which I’m sure connections are regretting following the news that Allaho won't be taking part in the festival. Perhaps Jetoile, who finished never nearer in fourth place, could be an interesting one in the Plate. That will depend on how much leniency the handicapper takes for the 17-length defeat. His victory off a mark of 146 in the Old Roan at Aintree was impressive, with some good horses behind him that day, including subsequent Ladbrokes Trophy winner Datsalrightgino, who we will come onto shortly.

The original feature race of the day, before the Clarence House Chase was added, was the Cotswolds Chase. Technically a Gold Cup Trial, though no winner has won the Gold Cup in the same year since Looks Like Trouble in 2000. Fascinating especially for Paul Nicholl's decision to run the novice Stay Away Fay in open company. It was a relatively nice run for Stay Away Fay, who was headed but stuck on to finish third behind Willie Mullins' well-backed Capodanno and last year’s Brown Advisory winner The Real Whacker. The removal of some of the fences wouldn't have suited him. With the Brown Advisory now almost certainly Stay Away Fay’s target at the Festival, I would make him the favourite at this stage and think the 5/1 on offer is more than fair for an Albert Bartlett winner that's just run well against the older horses. Royal Pagaille fell and is unlikely to return in time for the Festival, and the aforementioned Datsalrightgino unfortunately couldn't be saved after a sickening fall.

It's a shame that ​El Fabiolo skipped the rescheduled Clarence House to stay at home for the Dublin Chase this weekend, as another clash with Jonbon would have been eye opening. However, Jonbon was actually beaten at odds of 1/4 by Elixir De Nutz, who contested much of the running, and benefited from a tired Jonbon, who made a serious mistake and had to work hard to get back into the race after nearly coming down. James Bowen, standing in for his injured regular rider Nico De Bonville, threw the kitchen sink at Jonbon, who managed to fight his way back to the front after the mistake and then probably tired just before the finish to be beaten into a gallant second place. If you backed Jonbon for the Champion Chase in March, that must temper your expectations of him as he has now suffered all three of his defeats in Grade One races at Cheltenham. This run could leave its mark on him too, as he had a much tougher race than would have been ideal in preparation for trying to reverse form with El Fabiolo. Also worth mentioning is the performance of Fugitif, who finished 6 lengths behind in third place after being unable to go the early gallop. He is entered for the Ryanair, which would suit him much better after winning the December Gold Cup over a similar distance at the track.

Lossiemouth bolted up in the International Hurdle leaving Love Envoi, runner-up in last year’s Mares’ Hurdle, 9 lengths behind. Despite claims that she might not stay 2 miles 4 and calls for her to run against Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle, I think she will run in the mares' race and will be hard to oppose, although I was impressed by her stablemate Ashroe Diamond in the Grade 2 mares’ race at Doncaster. In that Doncaster race, we also saw a much improved Under Control stay on into 2nd from Gala Marceau also for Mullins, although I’d be optimistic that Gala Marceau would improve for the run. All three could hit the frame in a Mares’ Hurdle, but would need to find improvement to worry Lossiemouth. Noble Yeats then edged Paisley Park in the Grade 2 Cleeve Hurdle over 3 miles and staked his claim for the Stayers’ Hurdle in March, a division that is still wide open.

Finally, Gidleigh Park remained unbeaten in the Grade 2 Novice Hurdle over the intermediate distance, Gidleigh Park might have maintained his unbeaten record, but I personally feel that visually he lacks the change of gears often required for the Ballymore and would be better suited to the Albert Bartlett over 3 miles, both races will be considered by connections.

As for the Albert Barlett, the River Don Grade 2 novice hurdle, did not shed any further light on the race, with favourite Welcom To Cartries beaten fairly soundly in the end by Kerryhill, who is not even entered for any race at the Festival but may be worth keeping an eye on if he were to run in the Sefton at Aintree. I was disappointed with Welcom To Cartries as I had expected him to improve for the step up in trip to 3 miles. Last year’s Bartlett winner Stay Away Fay finished second in this race last year before going one better at the Festival, so perhaps he shouldn't be written off completely. Jeriko Du Reponet was a little underwhelming in his laboured victory in the Rossington Main. He had been in the top 2 in the betting for the Supreme for months and almost looked like a loser, but he managed to pick himself up and win, not unlike Jonbon's win in the same race a few years earlier for the same connections.

Outside of the UK, it was Jade De Grugy who impressed me the most. She won the Grade Three Solerina Mares Novice in convincing style. You should definitely consider her for the Mares’ Novice at the festival. Co-favourite for that race Dysart Enos won yesterday, but beat absolutely nothing. She did it easily enough without looking spectacular, so much so that some bookies pushed her price out, with others cutting her in the betting. She does look above average, but if you held a gun to my head I’d probably take her on in the Mares’ Novice. In the two Irish bumpers this weekend, some have suggested was where Mullins finally unleashed what look like a couple of his better bumper horses. Argento Boy is a horse whose pedigree really appeals to me as he is a half brother to Briar Hill. I think he could rank highly among Mullin's novices next year, after being bought by Audrey Turley for 130,000 euros. The other bumper winner was even more eye-catching: Jasmin De Vaux. He won by a wide margin for Mullins, Munir and Souede, and in the process is now vying for favouritism in the Champion Bumper.

The other important race could be the Grade Three Novice Chase, which Embassy Gardens won without breaking too much sweat. He could run in either the Brown Advisory or the National Hunt Chase, for which he is the favourite. My Ante Post bet on Minella Cocooner could be in jeopardy, but if both were to run, I still think Minella Cocooner is the better horse. He was certainly superior over hurdles and has looked just as good over fences, so even if he doesn't have the Black Type win that Embassy Gardens won yesterday, I'm still happy enough with the bet.

My next Ante Post selection didn’t run this weekend but ran on the 20th of January and finished 2nd. It comes in the form of Better Days Ahead in the Martin Pipe, currently available at 12/1 NRNB or 16/1 if you want to take the Ante Post odds with slightly higher risk.

He was a solid bumper horse last year, he ran second to a race fit Carnfunnock at the Down Royal November meeting, where Gordon tends to start out with his better horse, finishing 50 lengths ahead of the 3rd horse in doing so. In his next start, he beat Chapeau Du Soleil, who was the Ante Post Champion Bumper favourite at the time and he then went on to finish midfield in the Champion Bumper at odds of 10/1.

His hurdling form has been good, without looking likely to compete at the highest level. He fell at 8/15 on his hurdling debut over 2 miles 6. That race he ran in makes me think Gordon holds him in quite high esteem, as it is a race he traditionally sends a good horse to. Fury Road, Poli Roi, Farouk D’alene and American Mike have all won the race among others for him. It looked like he was going to win that race, and he made amends for that fall when he won a 2 mile 7.5 furlong maiden race by 11 lengths without being asked a question. Just a couple of weeks later he performed well when finishing 5th in a Grade 2 race over 2 miles 4 furlongs, but was only 5 lengths behind the winner Slade Steel, who would not be without a chance in the Ballymore. Second was Lecky Watson, who subsequently finished 3rd in the Grade 1 Lawlors of Naas and looked like he could do well stepped up in trip to the Albert Bartlett, as could Stellar Story, who finished just ahead of Better Days Ahead in 4th. Stellar Story then ran Albert Bartlett market principle Loughlynn close over just shy of 3 miles in another Grade 2 race.

After that race he had a nice 6 week break and I think Gordon decided he should go down the handicap route after coming up a bit short in graded company. He ran his crucial 4th hurdles race, allowing him to now run in class 1 and 2 handicaps in the UK following last year’s rule change aiming to level the playing field between unexposed novices and non-novices. I think they had his handicap mark in mind when opting to run him over 2 miles, when his win was over a mile further. He was beaten 10 lengths in that 4th hurdles run by a Mullins horse who is entered for both the Supreme and the Ballymore at the Festival and is clearly better suited to the minimum distance, than Better Days Ahead having already won at that distance. Better Days Ahead led the race and wasn’t given a particularly hard time of things when he lost the lead and made an error at the last. The way in which he drifted from joint favouritism the night before out to around 4/1 on the exchange shows that he was never going to show his best there. The County would be far too sharp for him and he won’t be qualified for the Pertemps, which leaves either the Martin Pipe or the Coral Cup as his fesitval options. The Martin Pipe itself is a race that historically novices have done well in, and Gordon usually takes a hamfisted approach in sending plenty of horses to the race. I would argue that he is much better than his Irish mark of 136 and even if he gets a few lbs from the British handicappers, he could have enough up his sleeve to run a big race. This would be recorded as 0.5pts each way at 12/1 NRNB.