Go Gorbatov... show us you can Triumph
AFTER Trials day at Cheltenham last weekend, the focus is on Leopardstown today — which should feature some significant Festival clues.
One of the rides I am looking forward to most is Ivanovich Gorbatov in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle.
He heads the betting for the Triumph Hurdle after winning on his debut at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting when he was very professional.
I had not sat on him before that race but trainer Aidan O’Brien’s team had done a fine job schooling him. He jumped and travelled well, picked up and kept going. He kept it very simple in what was a good maiden hurdle.
The runner-up, Willie Mullins-trained Let’s Dance, was well- fancied and the third, Lagostovegas, has run out since and hacked up in a decent maiden at Naas.
Ivanovich Gorbatov only had three runs on the Flat for Aidan and got a good rating. But he is still inexperienced. That’s a good thing because he is a horse who could progress as he has not had a hard time on the Flat.
He coped with the soft ground, but feels like he has the pace for better conditions. In no way does he need it soft.
YANWORTH A FLUTTER IN THE NEPTUNE
I THOUGHT stepping up Alan King’s Yanworth in trip would help at Cheltenham last weekend. Thankfully, it worked out well and he looked even better suited to two and a half miles than I thought he’d be. Yanworth (above) is now favourite for the Neptune Investment Novices’ Hurdle. His winning time was good, as it was from the second last hurdle in comparison to the other races, so there are plenty of good indications and he definitely felt as good as he looked. It’s a case of so far, so good and it’s a positive to have now had Cheltenham experience. He is a short price for the Festival and, while I am not saying people have overreacted, he will have a harder task next month.
I RIDE Gilgamboa in today’s Irish Gold Cup rather than last year’s winner Carlingford Lough and I don’t think there will be much between them. Last season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup third Road To Riches will be hard to beat too, but him aside it is an open race. Carlingford Lough will be better for his sixth in the Lexus Chase at Christmas, but Gilgamboa seems to be an improving horse.
TALKING of the Gold Cup, I still think Djakadam boasts the best form with his second last year at six years old. He was also very good when winning Punchestown’s John Durkan Memorial Chase over two and a half miles in December. But his fall in last weekend’s Betbright Trial Chase, won by Smad Place, throws a question mark over him — especially as he also fell in the JLT Novices’ Chase at the Festival two years ago.
THISTLECRACK has been a revelation since he won at Aintree last year. I’d say the British staying hurdlers are better than the Irish ones so far this season and you would have to say Thistlecrack is way clear after his win in the Cleeve Hurdle.
If he turns up at the Festival in the form he showed last weekend at Cheltenham and at Ascot before Christmas, Thistlecrack will be very hard to beat.