'We're excited about it' - Jetoile faces Aucunrisque in novice clash to savour

Friday: 2.10 Cheltenham
squareintheair.com Novices' Chase | 2m | 4yo+ | RTV

Cheltenham is back and this race is a real early season treat. Last season’s Dovecote winner Aucunrisque lines up against Tolworth runner-up Jetoile for the second time over fences in three weeks and there are several other promising horses going to post.

Aucunrisque got the better of the battle with Jetoile when they met on their respective chasing debuts at Uttoxeter, but Jetoile was definitely the more fluent of the pair at his fences and has a 5lb pull in the weights for a three-quarter-length margin. Can he turn the tables?

He kept on well after the last, suggesting he might be well suited by this stiff finish, and it looks set to be a fascinating rematch. Jetoile catapulted trainer Ryan Potter into the limelight last season and he is chasing his second Cheltenham win from eight runners at the track.

At the other end of the training spectrum, Gordon Elliott is in search of Cheltenham winner number 54 with Ash Tree Meadow, who lacks nothing for experience after six chase starts.

He was fourth of 21 in the Galway Plate behind subsequent American Grand National winner Hewick in July and has since been placed in a Grade 3 at Tipperary. This will probably be another step up from that contest, but only if the talented hurdlers transfer their form to fences.

Uhtred did just that when winning on his chasing debut at Downpatrick in August for Joseph O’Brien, but has since been bought for £32,000 to join Dan Skelton’s yard.

Skelton is 14-71 with runners making their debut for his yard after leaving another stable this century, but 13 of the winners came over hurdles and one in a bumper. He is 0-13 with such runners over fences.
Race analysis by Graeme Rodway

'To have a horse like him was amazing'

This is the point, early in the new part of the core jumps season, when those trainers who had hoped their talented hurdlers would fly higher over fences, get their chance to test this out.

For trainer Ryan Potter and his stable star Jetoile, that could lead to the biggest of days based on what the horse was able to achieve over hurdles last season.

Owned by Jane Bennett, Jetoile was successful twice in novice hurdles before producing a career-best effort when second to the indomitable Constitution Hill in the Grade 1 Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle.

Switched to fences this season, Jetoile put in a gutsy display to finish a narrow second to Aucunrisque on debut at Uttoxeter three weeks ago and Potter is looking forward to returning to the course with the seven-year-old.

“We’re excited about the race,” he said. “He’s got course form over hurdles, which is nice to have, and he probably needed his first run when he raced at Uttoxeter last time. He’s going to the race with no penalty and he was always going to be better over fences and exciting over them too.

“He had a fantastic first season and it was my first season with a full licence, so to have a horse like him was amazing. He wasn’t an expensive horse and hopefully there will be more to come from him.”

The Uttoxeter race was also Aucunrisque’s first over fences after a novice hurdle season during which he landed the Grade 2 Dovecote Novices’ Hurdle at Kempton.

However, the prospects of a rematch with Jetoile hinge on whether sufficient rain arrives at Cheltenham for trainer Chris Gordon to give his talented six-year-old the go ahead to run.

“I’m praying the rain is going to come, although that’s not looking likely to happen now,” he said. “I want it to be on the easy side of genuine good ground and if he does go he’s in great order and I’m sure he’ll run well.

“It’s just annoying really to be in this position. It was like this through the whole of the spring when it looked like rain would arrive, and it didn’t come. We’ve got a few horses ready to go but they can’t until that rain arrives.”

What they say

Gordon Elliott, trainer of Ash Tree Meadow
He'll likely head for a break until the spring after this weekend as we're going to bring him back for a nice handicap chase in the new year. He's taken really well to fences.

Fergal O’Brien, trainer of Byzantine Empire
He’s done well for us this year and he’s probably had excuses the last couple of runs. He’s run well at Cheltenham before over hurdles, so I’m sure he’ll run his race again.

Norman Lee, trainer of Sole Pretender
He's our first runner at Cheltenham, so hopefully he'll run a big race. I think two miles around here should suit him and he has come forward from his last start at Roscommon.

Sheila Lewis, trainer of Straw Fan Jack
I was really delighted with his win at Ffos Las as we always knew he would be good over fences. We kept him over hurdles one extra season to run him in big handicaps to get him more switched on before he went chasing, but he’s also got bigger and stronger in that year too. The main reason we’re going to Cheltenham is for the good ground before it gets too soft, but we think it’s more than worth having a bite at the cherry with him.
Reporting by Peter Scargill

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