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John Quinn hoping to repel southern raiders with promising Flat recruit

Big southern yards have been plundering the bet365 Summit Juvenile Hurdle (2.45) at Doncaster in recent seasons so it’s got to be interesting that John Quinn, who won back-to-back renewals of the Grade 2 contest in 2011 and 2012, is prepared to take on two impressive recent winners from the Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson yards with unraced hurdler Je Suis Charlie.

Je Suis Charlie took his Flat form to a new level for Michael Bell in the summer, rounding off the campaign with an official rating of 84, and the Quinn team were impressed enough to fork out 80,000gns for his services at the Horses In Training Sales.

The son of High Chaparral is quickly pitched into the deep end against two horses that were hugely impressive last time, but Quinn has a history of producing good juvenile hurdlers and Je Suis Charlie has reportedly been doing plenty right at home.

Quinn said: “I’ve been trying to run him for a while but we’ve not really had ground that would suit him. That shouldn’t be the case here though as it looks like it’ll be lovely jumping ground.

“He’s been schooling well and we like him a lot, but we need to get some experience into him and we’ll learn a lot here.

"It looks a tough task given the way Act Of Valour won at Newcastle, and I would consider We Have a Dream to be more of a second-season novice given he ran three times last term, which gives him a definitely experience edge. We go there with a chance though, for sure.”

Adrian Heskin rides Act Of Valour for Nicholls, who is one from one over hurdles, while We Have A Dream landed his first start for Henderson at Warwick last month and is the mount of Daryl Jacob.

City Dreamer, Eragon De Chanay and Sommervieu complete the six-strong field, while four are due to go to post for the other Grade 2 on the card, the December Novices' Chase (2.10), likewise sponsored by bet365.

Nicholls has booked Bryony Frost for the consistent Braquer D'Or, while Heskin rides Rocklander for boss Tom George.

Rocklander made a successful chasing debut at Ludlow last month, while last month's Stratford winner Keeper Hill - subsequently second at Plumpton – was the 7-4 favourite for the contest on Friday night.

The Brian Ellison-trained Ballycrystal was the 12-1 outsider of the quartet.


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Gavin BeechRacing Post Reporter

Published on 15 December 2017inPreviews

Last updated 19:48, 15 December 2017

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