Cobden confident in Politologue
HARRY COBDEN and reigning champion Politologue hope to expose any weakness in the hot favourite Chacun Pour Soi in a tantalising renewal of the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase – the Cheltenham Festival’s day two highlight.
Trained in Ireland by the allconquering Willie Mullins, Chacun Pour Soir was an absentee last year when Politologue, owned by John Hales, lit up Cheltenham with a mesmerising round of jumping under Harry Skelton.
With Skelton committed to riding Nube Negra for his brother Dan, it sees Cobden partner Politologue and look to atone for their defeat in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot when outstayed by First Flow who reopposes.
And while Chacun Pour Soi is regarded as one of the Festival bankers for Mullins and jockey Paul Townend who won the meeting’s curtain-raiser on Appreciate It, Cobden, 22, did win the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase on Politologue in December 2017.
He also knows the Irish favourite will have to be at his best to defeat his mount who is trained by Paul Nicholls. “Hannah who rides him every day is very pleased with him,” Cobden wrote on his Great British Racing blog.
“I saw him going up the gallop on Monday morning, he looked fit and strong. Chacun Pour Soi looks the one to beat and Altior doesn’t run so that gives us one less thing to worry about.
“Politologue is the sort of horse who goes out and gives his absolute best every time. You can’t go into a Champion Chase and be scared of one horse, you’ve got to concentrate on your own race.
“We know that he’ll give his best and if anyone doesn’t bring their A-game then he’ll be there to capitalise.”
Cobden has also learned from what was a chastening experience at Ascot when Politologue and the aforementioned First Flow took each other on from a long way out.
“I’ll be positive in the way I ride him without forcing him. In his last race in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot, I think we went out a bit too hard out in front and First Flow took him on which gave him an advantage,” said the rider.
“In these two-mile chases, there’s a very fine line between going the right speed and taking them along too quick. Chacun Pour Soi has been very impressive in Ireland but he hasn’t been to Cheltenham, it’s new for him and a slight unknown quantity which gives the race an added dimension.”
Yet, while the pressure is on Chacun Pour Soi who runs in the colours of Rich and Susannah Ricci, it’s Cobden who carries the weight of expectation in the opening Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle when he partners Bravesmangame – another of the week’s leading fancies.
The horse won the three-mile Grade One Challow Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury on his last start and runs in the colours of John Dance, who enjoyed so much success on the Flat with the now retired Laurens, and Bryan Drew.
Bravemansgame has been compared by his trainer Nicholls to Denman, the 2018 Gold Cup winner, and Cobden will look to exploit his stamina over this shorter trip of two and a half miles.
“He’s had a tremendous year, I would say he’s the best two and half mile novice hurdler in the UK and by a good distance too,” he added. “We just don’t know yet how he will measure up with the Irish. I certainly wouldn’t swap him for any other horse. The Challow win was pretty flawless.”
The Cross Country race is also likely to see dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll, a four-time Festival winner, make his Cheltenham swansong. A four-time Festival winner, he’s also been withdrawn from next month’s Aintree race.
Politologue is the sort of horse who gives his best every time. Jockey Harry Cobden on his Queen Mother Champion Chase mount Politologue.
LISTENING to Richie Barker coughing and wheezing through his post-match press conference put Rotherham United’s 4-1 Championship defeat to Watford in its proper context.
This was the Millers’ first game in 13 days, and they only got back into a training ground shut down by Covid-19 on Monday.
They went 3-0 down inside 40 minutes to poor goals from the second phase of set-pieces but it was hard to know how much slack to cut a side whose manager Paul Warne was watching from not-so-splendid isolation at home for a second home game against top-of-the-table opposition. Watford – quite rightly – did not cut them any.
Their manager, Xisco, was very different, stressing his “big respect” for them as soon as he took his seat for the post-match press conference. A Hornets side which still has plenty of lingering quality from five consecutive seasons in the Premier League swarmed, punished a team in League One when the music stopped last year.
At 3-0, it became nothing more than a damage limitation job yet Michael Smith managed to win a penalty without any addition to the scoreline, and saw it saved, then Freddie Ladapo found the net with a dipping shot. Within seconds, Watford went down the other end and made it 4-1.
Matty Crooks headed over from almost underneath the bar as the Millers refused to accept their inevitable fate. The spirit – less so the heading and penaltytaking – was great to watch.
“It wasn’t an ideal scenario to come back after one day’s training and play against an ex-Premier League team who I’m pretty sure will be there or thereabouts for promotion but the effort from the lads on the back of one day’s training... we could have given them a bit of a scare,” reflected Barker, leading in Warne’s absence. “The goals were disappointing but there is a possibility we could have made it a really difficult last 15 minutes for them.
“We could have ended up winning the second half which doesn’t give you any points but it might give you some momentum and confidence.”
Watford’s bench was packed with top-flight experience, Rotherham needed two teenagers yet to play senior football – Jacob Gratton and Jake Hull – just to be able to name eight of the nine permitted.
Ben Wiles looked exhausted when he trudged off early in the second half, captain Richard Wood, who missed the last match with coronavirus, went down with cramp with all five substitutes on.
To hear a fitness fanatic like Barker struggling so much after not even playing gave some indication as to what his players went through.
“These are elite athletes who haven’t trained for two weeks,” he pointed out. “If you had a Formula 1 car you hadn’t run for two weeks you wouldn’t put it in the Monaco Grand Prix.
“I genuinely feared for a couple of them. Before this I used to train every day and I can’t think of anything worse right now.
“However the bigger picture is we’re running out of dates for our games to be played. Unfortunately we just had to get the game over and done with.”
Little had been seen of the visitors until Ismaila Sarr’s shot deflected off Angus MacDonald and behind for a corner. When the ball eventually came in from Philip Zinckernagel, centre-back Francisco Sierralta was still upfield to head past Jamal Blackman, who ought to have done much better. He was brilliant from that point on, but the door had been pushed ajar after only nine minutes.
Blackman saved a Zinckernagel shot from a similar position to where he made the first from but as defenders stood flat-footed, Sarr pounced on the rebound.
Blackman made another good save from Nathaniel Chalobah but the Millers never dealt with the corner, and Ken Sema hammered home from the back of the area.
Rotherham fought hard in the second half, Wood producing a heroic tackle as Pedro threatened to score three minutes after the break. Daniel Bachmann made a good save from Smith’s penalty but was beaten when Ladapo cut inside to launch a dipping shot from long range.
Watford went straight down the other end and although Blackman kept out Andre Gray, he could do nothing to stop Dan Gosling burying the rebound.
Crooks took a hefty bang heading over and Kieran Sadlier whipped a free-kick off target in stoppage time as Rotherham kept pushing right to the end.
Spirit only gets you so far, of course, but it was still very heartening to see.
Rotherham United: Blackman; Ihiekwe, Wood, A MacDonald; Olosunde (Giles 73), S MacDonald (Sadlier 73), Wiles (Harding 55), Barlaser, Crooks; Smith (Jozefzoon 79), Ladapo (Hirst 79). Unused substitutes: Johansson, Gratton, Hull.
Watford: Bachmann; Femenia (Gray 53), Troost-Ekong, Sierralta, Masina; Chalobah (Gosling 67), Hughes, Zinckernagel; Sarr (Ngakia 53) Pedro, Sema. Unused substitutes: Foster, Cathcart, Lazaar, Success, Sanchez, Hungbo.
Referee: J Simpson (Lancashire).
These are elite athletes who haven’t trained for two weeks. Rotherham United’s Richie Barker after last night’s defeat to Watford.
ENGLAND coach Shaun Wane says he is mystified by Hull FC owner Adam Pearson’s attitude to this year’s mid-season World Cup warm-up match.
The Rugby Football League (RFL) yesterday confirmed England will play Combined Nations All Stars at Warrington on Friday, June 25.
That will be Wane’s first game in charge and one of only two games to prepare for England’s World Cup campaign which begins against Samoa at Newcastle on October 23.
Super League, which is run by its member clubs rather than the RFL, has arranged a full round of fixtures for the weekend of England’s meeting with Combine Nations, including a home match for Hull against Huddersfield Giants.
Speaking to the Hull Daily Mail last week, Pearson dismissed the mid-season Test as a “total waste of time”, if NRL players are not included in the England squad and said he would not commit to releasing his club’s imports to play for the overseas side.
That provoked a bemused response from Wane, who is anxious to see England face the strongest-possible opposition.
“I am hoping the clubs will understand the big stressed the coach.
“The majority of people I speak to dead-set understand what a successful World Cup campaign will do for Super League and the game in general.
“I don’t understand Adam because he has known about this for 12 months; this has been in, he has agreed it, then all of a sudden to come out and say what he said, I don’t understand it. picture,”
“I’ve spoken to him and spoken to Brett [Hodgson, Hull’s coach] numerous times and asked if anyone has a problem or question and nobody said a word.”
Wane also admitted to being “disappointed” club fixtures have been arranged for a weekend when it was known the national side would be in action.
He said: “It is international weekend and I wanted a standalone fixture so it didn’t put pressure on any Super League teams, but we didn’t get that.
“That’s disappointing, but the clubs – as a whole – have been really behind us and helping me in any way they can.”
Wane insisted he will strike a balance with his selection to ensure no one team is severely weakened by England call-ups.
“I will do anything I can to not put teams under pressure,” he added.