This Warrior can battle to success
There are no apologies needed for keeping faith with Kim Bailey’s Minella Warrior. Today at Chepstow should be no exception. The six-year-old did us a favour at Uttoxeter, but today’s assignment, at the start of the new jumps season, is quite a bit more taxing. Minella Warrior won with ease from previous winner, Gortroe Joe, three weeks ago, and was even more impressive at Warwick in May. With only five visits to the racecourse, there should be more to come from the selection, who was impressve at Uttoxeter after a 20-week break. The Irish raider, James Nash’s Scheu Time, has been aimed at the two-mile handicap hurdle since failing at Aintree in April. The five-year-old had just taken the lead, yards before falling at the last on Grand National day in a similar grade to today’s contest. That was on his handicap debut, where he was heavily backed, and he’s had a nice break since running twice in early summer. Harry Fry’s Minella Awards looks like a hurdler with a chance of impacting on the novice-chase division during the winter. When last seen, he was second, trying to give 10lb to Willie Mullins’ Low Flying at Galway in August. He has a hurdling mark of 149.