Count on Cadzand to vindicate his Newbury support
WHITE AND GOLD
CADZAND can justify his strong ante-post support by winning the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury.
Dan Skelton’s six-year-old has been towards the head of the betting for arguably the toughest handicap hurdle in the calendar right from when the weights were published.
He looked the ideal type for the race when scoring impressively at Kempton over Christmas. Cadzand brushed Christopher Wood aside, and that horse has gone on to win the Scottish County Hurdle in good style.
Cadzand had got off the mark over hurdles at the second attempt at Warwick in November and is open to plenty of improvement.
The six-year-old’s experience before that was restricted to one point-to-point success and two placed efforts in bumpers.
The Skelton stable continues to be in fine form, and their runners must always be respected.
Skelton served as assistant to Paul Nicholls before setting up on his own, and his former boss should strike with Greaneteen in the Betfair Game Spirit Chase.
The seven-year-old had a solid campaign as a novice chaser in 2019-20, winning his first three races and finishing a creditable fourth in the ultra-competitive Grand Annual at the Festival.
Nicholls had no qualms giving Greaneteen his seasonal reappearance in the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter in November and was duly rewarded with a game neck verdict over Moonlighter.
Greaneteen was then pitched against his esteemed stablemate Politologue in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown and did best of the rest to take the runner-up spot in the two-mile Grade One.
He is in Nicholls’ Cheltenham plans, holding entries in both the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the Ryanair. He can take this en route to the Festival.
Good Ball may also provide an apt success for the Ditcheat trainer in the Read Paul Nicholls On Betting Betfair Novices’ Hurdle.
The French import made a winning British debut over this course and distance in December and could be a bright prospect.
Lostintranslation can get back on track for the Cheltenham Gold Cup by taking the Betfair Denman Chase. It is true Colin Tizzard’s charge has questions to answer, but the stable is now in much better shape – having been under a cloud earlier in the season.
Lostintranslation will have been helped by a wind operation following a disappointing run in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day. At his best, he is undoubtedly one of the top staying chasers around, as he showed last term when winning the Betfair Chase and finishing third in the Gold Cup.
Stoner’s Choice gets the vote in the rearranged Ballymore Sidney Banks Novices’ Hurdle at Market Rasen. Fergal O’Brien’s six-yearold looks like he is being primed for Cheltenham, where he has two entries, as this is his first start for 94 days. Before his break, Stoner’s Choice chalked up a hat-trick with wins at Perth, Carlisle and a cosy success on this course.
While he may not be primed to his absolute best, O’Brien will no doubt have him fit enough to do himself justice in his prep run for the Festival.
Mick Maestro can defy 12lb rise in the weights in the MansionBet’s Faller Insurance Handicap Hurdle.
The eight-year-old, trained by Nick Kent, caught the attention of the assessor when bolting up by 15 lengths at Catterick.
Midnight Tune has a chance to make the most of a drop back in trip and testing ground in the starsports.bet £20K Owners Club Guarantee Mares’ Chase at Uttoxeter, while Fury Road should be back among the winners at Navan.
All eyes will be on dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll in the Ladbrokes Ireland Boyne Hurdle, but his Gordon Elliott-trained stablemate ought to defy a penalty as he looks to bounce back from Grade One defeat at Christmas.
SELECTIONS
MARKET RASEN: 1.00 Homme Public, 1.30 Whiteoak Fleur, 2.05 Stoner’s Choice, 2.40 Martello Sky, 3.15 Mick Maestro, 3.50 Getaway North, 4.25 Rintulla, 4.55 Fly By Milan. NAVAN: 1.05 Coko Beach, 1.40 Envol Pierji, 2.15 Global Equity, 2.47 Fury Road, 3.25 Minella Escape, 4.00 Wowsham, 4.35 Westy Fox, 5.10 Ginto. NEWBURY: 1.15 Good Ball, 1.50 Sizable Sam, 2.25 Lostintranslation, 3.00 Greaneteen, 3.35 CADZAND (NAP), 4.10 Thegallantway, 4.45 Mucho Mas. UTTOXETER: 12.50 Elham Valley, 1.22 Discko Des Plages, 1.57 Unohu, 2.32 Midnight Tune, 3.07 Pebbly New Moon, 3.42 Light Flicker, 4.17 Easy Bucks, 4.52 Dharan.
DOUBLE: Cadzand and Greaneteen.
IT was interesting to see the review that Celtic issued this week. Obviously the £5.9m loss was a bit of a shock considering how well Celtic have been doing in recent seasons and the major transfer fees they have received for Kieran Tierney and more recently Jeremie Frimpong. I can only assume that these deals were not recorded in the period relating to the review. One aspect that wasn’t clearly related was what Neil Lennon’s position is and if he’ll continue as manager next season.
I know he’s had a lot of criticism from groups of Celtic supporters but I think this is totally normal in football when a club is not performing at the expectancy level deemed appropriate by the fans.
I think it’s unfair on Neil, but over the years I’ve seen many examples of this being the case.
You only need to consider the news that was being posted last week that many Liverpool fans wanted Jurgen Klopp sacked because Liverpool had lost three games in a row and were falling behind in their league championship challenge. For this to be even considered a possibility was unbelievable when you consider what he has achieved in his time at the club: a League title, the first for 30 years, a Champions League success and a Club World Championship crown.
The role of football manager can often be a bizarre position and although some of those who are sacked have benefited greatly financially, it still makes it a difficult position to perform in a relaxed manner.
If you look at the Scottish Premiership, three of the bottom four clubs have removed their managers already this season and the pressure has been mounting on the officials of both Aberdeen and Celtic to relieve their managers of their duties even though both clubs are currently in the top four. Both Lennon and Pittodrie counterpart Derek McInnes have been totally outstanding as bosses of their clubs over the years but because of one poor season the pressure mounts on them to be removed – as is the case with Klopp.
The fans need to made aware that things can turn around, especially when both Lennon and McInnes have proved they know what is required and have previously demonstrated this over many seasons.
One of the best examples of how this is achievable is the story relating to the best manager who has ever operated in the UK, Sir Alex Ferguson. He was appointed as Manchester United manager in 1986 and, prior to an FA Cup match against Nottingham Forest in 1990, he failed to win anything with the club. This match was prior to a run of seven games without a win and banners having been displayed at Old Trafford calling for him to be sacked. Forest were favourites that day and were actually the holders of the
trophy but a late goal from Mark Robins saw United go through and, indeed, they went on to lift the cup that season.
From that turn around when he was at a low ebb with the fans and his reputation being seriously questioned around the English football scene, Fergie went on to win 13 League titles, nine cups and two Champions Leagues. If ever there is an example of sticking with a manager, this proves to be the best one.
It’s obvious that this has been a very bad season for Celtic, but Lennon has good experience in the game and needs time, as Fergie had, to turn around his squad and rebuild the team going forward to offer a future challenge for the title. Already, you can see changes he’s making to both the personnel and system being operated and there appears to be an improvement albeit, it’s still in an initial process.
Regardless of what anyone thinks, the feelings of the fans were essentially characterised by their desire for success this season. It was a big demand to win 10 in a row as it was equally that of the Rangers fans to stop it and achieve their 55th league title. I firmly believe that if Celtic were currently 15 points clear at the top there would be an equally large movement by the Rangers fans to have Steven Gerrard removed from his job. He’s a total hero at the moment but that’s because he’s fulfilling the expectations of all Rangers supporters. Not long ago, Neil Lennon was in that position but when things aren’t going to plan, the fans quickly show their disapproval.
AND ANOTHER THING
IT was extremely disappointing to learn of the behaviour of the five Rangers players who breached the national Covid regulations last weekend. Gerrard said the club were disappointed in the behaviour of the players. I’m pretty sure that anger and frustration would have been his more natural reaction to how these players behaved.
The fact that two players, Jordan Jones and George Edmundson, have been severely punished for their actions and have certainly put their Rangers careers in jeopardy should have delivered a message to these players that what they were doing was unacceptable. The word that has been expressed most of the time from people discussing what these players did is “stupidity” and perhaps that is the aspect that they will best use as their defence when Gerrard engages them in a face-to-face discussion.
Many Liverpool fans wanted Klopp sacked