Moore's Templier faces competitive field in a 'very good race'

3.35 Newbury
OCSL Juvenile Handicap Hurdle | 4yo | 2m3f | ITV4

Much of the analysis of Kempton's Adonis Juvenile Hurdle last month centred around whether Charli Parcs would have won the race had he stayed on his feet, but there are questions pertinent to this race too.

A strong-looking field was was taken into the home straight that afternoon by Templier, who was certainly looking outmatched by the time they reached the third-last flight but was stopped almost completely as Charli Parcs came to grief in front of him.

How much closer he would ultimately have finished to the winner Master Blueyes will shape views as to whether his mark of 125 is too harsh, too lenient or just right.

Winning streak

Don Bersy is unbeaten in three starts in 2017, his most recent win coming at Haydock last month.

He races of a mark of 132 here but he gives the impression he could ultimately rate a fair bit higher than that, with this step up in trip also seemingly right up his streets.

Ground concern

Night Of Sin's recent form is not too shabby either, with two wins in a row coming on the back of being well beaten behind Charli Parcs at Kempton back in December.

While it is far too early in his career to say definitively what type of ground he prefers, Night Of Sin's victories have come when the going has been described as soft, while his first two defeats took place on good ground. How much Newbury dries out could be key.

What they say

Nick Williams, trainer of Night Of Sin
He's got plenty of weight but looks to have a good shout and he goes there in top form.

Warren Greatrex, trainer of Final Choice
This should be more to his liking but I'm not convinced ground has been his issue. I think he needs to concentrate a bit more - he's probably a bit of a quirky character and if he's on a going day then he's got the ability to compete. He's disappointed me the last couple of times but his win at Newbury was a good performance.

Alan King, trainer of Timoteo
Timoteo is worth another chance. He was a bit disappointing at Doncaster last month but he’d been a good second at Bangor the time before and the first and third have both won since. I don’t feel we’ve seen the best of him.

Gary Moore, trainer of Templier
We'll see if he's well handicapped or not, this is a very good race and he's not getting loads of weight. He won his maiden quite well and they've probably got his mark from that. He's been beaten on ground he doesn't really like and I don't think going right-handed is his cup of tea. When Charli Parcs fell at Kempton he interfered with him a bit, otherwise he may have finished two or three places closer.

Charlie Longsdon, trainer of Castafiore
I'm looking forward to seeing her run. She's got some strong form from her Musselburgh run when she fell upsides Project Bluebook and Nietzsche. I couldn't be happier with how she's been going and you can draw a line through her last run, she was wrong when she came home.

Nigel Hawke, trainer of Deauville Crystal
She's been very consistent and I think she was very unlucky not to win last time at Sandown. She's in good form and we're hopeful she'll run a nice race again.