BITE SET TO MAKE MARK
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3 1 MIGHT BITE 2 TEA FOR TWO 3 BRISTOL DE MAI
MIGHT BITE has a giltedged opportunity to gain compensation for his Cheltenham Gold Cup defeat.
This time last year, the Nicky Henderson (right) nine-year-old came to Aintree with the reputation of a wayward genius, having done his level best to throw away victory in the RSA Insurance Chase at Cheltenham 23 days earlier.
But Nico De Boinville’s mount showed green shoots of maturity in beating stablemate Whisper – his nose victim at the Festival – by two lengths in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase.
And the son of Scorpion has continued in more levelheaded vein this season, warming up for the King George at Kempton with an eight-length return-to-action supremacy at Sandown in November.
Sent off the 6-4 market leader on Boxing Day, Might Bite delivered with a one-length margin over Double Shuffle, Tea
with For Two Bristol third and De Mai back in sixth, before facing his sternest test – over an extended three and a quarter miles on rain-softened terrain – in the Gold Cup.
Might Bite still had a grip of his bridle when taking aim at the frontrunning Native River at the penultimate of the 22 fences, but was unable to match his rival’s staying power as the pair climbed to the finishing post.
But the four-and-a-halflength margin between the Definitly Red pair – came home sixth, one place ahead of Tea For Two – represents rough justice for Might Bite, who should profit from coming back to three miles here. Tea For Two, who beat Cue Card in this race 12 months ago, is a strong candidate for the podium, while Bristol De Mai, who has had breathing surgery since a tame third in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham in January, is a danger to all on his form from the first half of the winter.