ANGELS WINGS ARE CLIPPED
ANGELS BREATH was pushed out to 16-1 for Cheltenham’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle on March 12 after a shock defeat at Kempton Park yesterday.
Nicky Henderson’s fiveyear-old, promoted to favouritism for the National Hunt Festival’s curtain-raiser after a successful hurdling debut at Ascot in December, was sent off the 8-11 hotpot for the Grade 2 Sky Bet Dovecote Novices’ Hurdle.
But Nico De Boinville’s mount, whose road to Cheltenham has been disrupted by the equine flu crisis, failed by threequarters of a length to concede 5lb to Southfield Stone.
“There are a lot of positives, even though he was beaten as he’d have learned tons today,” Henderson said afterwards.
“Nobody is despondent, he’s had a proper race, and on a stiffer track I still think two miles is the right trip.”
Last Saturday’s Betfair Hurdle winner Al Dancer, who like Angels Breath runs in the colours of former Ffos Las supremo Dai Walters, was cut to 5-2 favourite for Cheltenham 2019’s opening race.
Henderson hopes a cut to a leg will not prevent Fusil Raffles, who made an impressive British debut with a nine-length supremacy in the Grade 2 Adonis Hurdle, from making the Triumph Hurdle line-up at Cheltenham on March 15.
“We’ll have to look at that cut, but he’s a lovely horse and he hasn’t really done a lot of work,” added the master of Seven Barrows.
Bottom weight Walt made the most of the 20lb he received from Double Shuffle to land the 888Sport Handicap Chase by one length.