This horse has Betfair Hurdle written all over him - plus pointers for Ascot

I have had a thoroughly enjoyable last seven days. On Thursday morning I was doing some filming for a new project at Fergal O’Brien’s yard, on Friday I went racing at Cheltenham and on Sunday I was in the Racing TV studios for Luck on Sunday.

Things are beginning to look a little like they used to pre-coronavirus, and there is nothing like getting out and about to reignite a love for racing.

Whether it be chatting to stable staff while giving a hunk of a point-to-pointer some fuss (I was particularly enamoured by a horse called Armchair Farmer who is now with O’Brien), or standing with a few like-minded souls as we applauded horses returning to the winner’s enclosure, these little interactions are what the game is all about for me and I’m still incredibly grateful I get to talk and write about it for a living.

I wasn’t at Prestbury Park on Saturday, but if I was I definitely would have given I Like To Move It a hearty cheer as I think he put up one of the performances of the weekend in the Mastersons Holdings Hurdle.

Seeing him beat Tritonic (rated 142) and Stepney Causeway (137) was like watching two boys against a man. That pair are slighter, Flat types, while I Like To Move It towered over them and jumped most of the hurdles like fences.

He weakened to finish a respectable ninth in the Champion Bumper in March and it could be that the strapping son of Trans Island has needed time to strengthen.

On this evidence he has done just that as he stayed on strongly in the final half-furlong to record a Racing Post Rating of 137, 13lb superior to anything he had previously achieved.

He finished the race 11 seconds quicker than when subsequent Champion Chase winner Dodging Bullets landed the same contest in 2012, four seconds quicker than when dual Grand National hero Tiger Roll won it in 2014 and just over a second slower than when the high-class Sceau Royal sprinted to victory in 2016.

I have several takeouts from the race. Firstly, it gave a considerable boost to Hermes Boy, who finished second behind I Like To Move It at Worcester towards the start of the month.

I’d advise everyone to watch that race back, as the runner-up shaped as if he’d be capable of significantly better, snatching second in the final strides.

Hermes Boy doesn’t have any entries but a race like the 2m novice hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day, won last year by Friday’s impressive Cheltenham novice chase winner Third Time Lucki, would look a good fit. Altior won the same race in 2015.

I Like To Move It: looks the ideal type for the Betfair Hurdle at NewburyCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

The other point to note is just how strong the form of Good Risk At All’s Listed Newbury bumper is beginning to look, and the Dai Walters-owned five-year-old could begin his season in the novice hurdle at Ascot on Saturday.

Sam Thomas enjoyed the Walters-owned Before Midnight’s striking handicap success at Cheltenham on Saturday, and the grey looks another top prospect to run in the blue and white silks.

Good Risk At All beat I Like To Move It comfortably in February, with Gelino Bello (third), Bill Baxter (fourth) and Might I (fifth) behind.

Might I, who was sent off the 5-2 favourite that day, made a huge impression on his hurdling debut at Newton Abbot on Thursday, and Gelino Bello followed suit at Aintree on Sunday. Bill Baxter has options at Uttoxeter and Ffos Las this week.

Nigel Twiston-Davies won that Newbury bumper with Ballyandy in 2016, and I Like To Move It reminds me a lot of that horse, who always looked a staying chaser in the making but never managed to get his act together over fences.

He did win the Betfair Hurdle though, when sent off 3-1 favourite, and I would be shocked if the Naunton trainer wasn’t looking in that direction with his latest star.

Twiston-Davies won the Betfair Hurdle again in 2019 with Al Dancer, who was sent off 5-2, so expect I Like To Move It to be a warm order if he makes it to the start line for the Newbury handicap in February. He has the race written all over him.

Wohler runner catches the eye at Ascot

I am very much looking forward to a cracking card at Ascot on Saturday when two of my tracker horses could make their chase debuts.

Gustavian and Sam Barton are entered in the novice handicap chase (1.35), and have the promise to go far over fences this season.

Sam Barton: holds an entry on SaturdayCredit: Pool

When I was at Chepstow this month my eye was drawn to the Stuart Edmunds-trained Megan, who would surely have won the four-year-old handicap hurdle won by Progressive but for falling at the third-last.

A mark of 120 is lenient and Megan must hold strong claims in the Listed handicap hurdle (2.10).

The concluding bumper (5.05) could also be intriguing as it may feature Estacas, who is trained in Germany by Andreas Wohler, better known for his exploits on the Flat and who saddled Novellist to win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at this track in 2013.

Wohler has already enjoyed success on British soil in 2021 when Axana won the Group 3 Chartwell Fillies’ Stakes at Lingfield in May, but his runners in bumpers are rare.

Indeed, he has had only two previous bumper runners in Britain. The keen-going Laertes Cause finished second at Stratford in June 2006 when sent off 9-4 favourite, while Il Presidente bolted up by 19 lengths as an 11-4 shot at Fontwell in 2012.

There is a lot to like about Galileo gelding Estacas, who is a half-brother to the trainer’s triple Group 1 winner Earl Of Tinsdal, who ran in Estimate’s Gold Cup at Ascot in 2013.

Jamie Moore, who partnered Laertes Cause 15 (yes, 15!) years ago, is pencilled in for the ride.

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