Trainer views and punting angles as the juvenile hurdlers step up in trip

Be Wiser Insurance Juvenile Handicap Hurdle| 4yo | 2m2f183y | ITV4/RTV

PUNTING POINTERS

In-form King has kept Elysees back

Several of those near the top of the handicap were eliminated from the Boodles-backed Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham last week and come here in search of compensation.

That certainly is not the case with Alan King, however, whose horses have been running out of their skins in recent weeks.

On the basis of his narrow defeat to Triumph Hurdle fifth Quel Destin in a Grade 2 at Doncaster in December, Elysees would certainly have been worth his place at Cheltenham, and looks poised to run a big race here.

"Elysees has been aimed at this for some time and wasn't entered at Cheltenham," said King.

"He'll be spot on after a pipe-opener on the Flat and the more the ground dries out the better."

Nicholls aims to buck Flat-bred trend

At two miles three furlongs, this represents a stern enough test of stamina for four-year-olds and is one of the first decent prizes to be contested by that age group at an extended trip.

That said, you have to go back to 2012 to find the last jumps-bred winner of this race and, in the four years that it has been run as a £40,000 race, all those successful have shown a reasonable level of form on the Flat, with 2018 winner Mister Chow the lowest rated of them with a Racing Post Rating of 73.

Rose Sea Has (green silks) chases home the impressive Precious Cargo at SandownCredit: Mark Cranham

Rose Sea Has was narrowly beaten in a chase at Pau on his final start for Guillaume Macaire before joing Richard Newland, who was successful in this race in 2016 with Duke Street.

Friend Or Foe came to Paul Nicholls from trainer Emmanuel Clayeux – source of last week's Gold Cup hero Al Boum Photo – and went into plenty of notebooks when scoring on his British debut at Taunton in December.

"We do like him and initially we thought the Fred Winter would be his race, but sadly he didn’t quite get in," said Nicholls' assistant Harry Derham. "He's not your typical juvenile, he's very much a long-term project and was bought with that in mind.

"We think he's well handicapped and he might potentially have a couple of pounds in hand but he has to go and prove it.

"At some stage I'm sure he'll be rated higher than now, and I’d be surprised if he doesn't see the trip out well."

What they say

Ian Williams, trainer of Idilico
He's been very consistent and is creeping up the weights but we were disappointed not to get him in at Cheltenham, where he just missed out by a couple. A race of this nature, although it's tough, doesn’t look totally beyond his abilities.

Nicky Henderson, trainer of Chaparral Prince
He's capable of running a big race.

Neil King, trainer of The Knot Is Tied
He hasn't done a whole lot wrong this season and has run some very nice races. I gave Bryony [Frost] the wrong instructions last time at Sandown and got him beaten, which was annoying as he went up 5lb. He should improve for the step up in trip here and remains in very good form.

The Knot Is Tied leads Le Milos over the last at Sandown earlier this monthCredit: Mark Cranham

Jedd O'Keeffe, trainer of Groveman
We’ve had this race in mind for a while, and although we made an entry in the Fred Winter, we never realistically thought we'd get in. We think the extra distance will suit him very well. Quite a few of these aren't that exposed over hurdles so it's quite hard to say who is and who isn't well-handicapped but hopefully we're roughly in the right place.

Lucinda Russell, trainer of Glenpark
We're hopeful he can run into a place and his price probably reflects that. He’ll probably be better on the softer ground and the step up in trip will be fine for him. He's got a light weight but this is obviously the toughest question he's been asked.

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