NTF 1 to follow from the weekend: Can you feel the spirit of the lord?

“There’s nothing more sinister that ministers in dresses…”

…or so mid 90’s funky-rock band Black Grape told us anyway! Over at Warwick this Saturday, however, there was nothing sinister about the battling run of a Novice Chaser in the Grade 3 Classic Chase and the 7yo is the subject of today’s ‘1 to follow from the weekend’ post…

NTF 1 to follow from the weekend: Can you feel the spirit of the lord?

GODSMEJUDGE (Alan King) – Saturday 3.35 Warwick – 2nd in the 3m5f Classic Chase

Trainer Alan King had more than enough faith in his inexperienced chaser and didn’t hesitate in pitching him into this valuable chase against more experienced rivals. That faith was almost repaid in spades as this quick, accurate and bold jumper attacked his fences with pinpoint accuracy, presented expertly at his obstacle’s by the excellent Wayne Hutchinson. Unfortunately the pair were just ground down in the shadow of the post by the Venetia Williams trained RIGADIN DE BEAUCHENE and had to settle for the runners-up slot. GODSMEJUDGE gave a bold sight out front and he had an ultra hard nut to crack in the shape of the inform PETE THE FEAT, but crack him he did. Regrettably the efforts of cracking that hard nut probably cost him victory and forced his stamina reserves to empty in the final surge to the line.

A cursory look at the Witness Box gelding’s Dosage figures backs up my assessment that it was the battle with Pete The Feat that left him short and not any stamina queries…

GODSMEJUDGE Dosage figures – 4-1-12-0-7 (24) (20+) | 0.85 | -0.21 

There are plenty enough inherited stamina genes in his pedigree to suggest that these sort of trips are well withing his compass.

A word of praise must go to the excellent Wayne Hutchinson who didn’t panic (where others may have) when Pete The Feat loomed alongside and poked his head in front. Hutchinson simply kept to his task and left getting urgent on his mount until as late as he possibly could. It was, in my view, another excellent and well judged feat of jockey-ship from the pilot and it was undeserving that he should go down by the narrow margin of 1/2 a length.

But where to now for GODSMEJUDGE…

Saturday was easily a career best run on the figures (by some margin) and with only 4 chase starts under his belt (10 career starts in total) there is surely plenty of improvement still to come from him. He clearly relishes a stamina test and he could well be one for a National of some sort in the future, if not a National then certainly a marathon contest of some description. With only 10 career starts to his name it is not easy picking out patterns and preferences although I have a sneaky suspicion he may prefer slightly smaller fields…

Record in fields of 11 or less – 2512121

Record in fields of 12 or more – 702

This is certainly not concrete evidence, far from it, but it could be the case that if he gets an easier time of it out front his pinpoint jumping would have most of the field in trouble and he wouldn’t have to spend vital energy fending off other pace-pushers such as Pete The Feat.

He looks a staying novice well on the up and in the immortal words of Shaun Ryder and Black Grape –

Oh come all ye faithful, Oh joyful and triumphant, Gather around, While I blow GODSMEJUDGE’s trumpet!

Praise be the lord that the King runner lands a big staying chase before the season is out!

Who were the runners that caught your attention and went in your own notebook as ones to follow from the weekend?

Did you see any future champions among the weekends runners?

What were your thoughts on the Lanzarote from Kempton and the Classic Chase from Warwick?

Drop me a comment below and share your runners to follow from the weekend with the NTF readers.

Cheltenham Festival vid-cast: JPFestival TV

Now we are over the bump that is Christmas and New Year myself and fellow JPFestival.TV video-casters (have I made that term up?!?) will be upping our Video-cast activity, starting tonight with an early look at the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Ryanair Chase as well as answering a couple of Tweets that have been sent our way.

Tune in tonight for the live broadcast at 7pm or venture back to NTF tomorrow (Tuesday 15th) and watch the recording at your leisure.

Live broadcast will be shown here >>> http://www.jpfestival.com

RTTT – NTF Grinder System

I know some of you have been missing the daily updates for RTTT but stay tuned as there will be news on this very shortly…

OSCARA DARA wins the Lanzarote Hurdle!

Huge congratulations to Phil Boyle and the other owners of the Nicky Henderson trained Oscara Dara. It was simply fantastic to see the horse land a big pot for connections on Saturday and I’m sure you all, like myself, can’t wait for the next guest post from Phil. Future prizes surely await this exciting 8yo. OI OI Oscara!

Proform Racing: New website now live!

The guys from Proform have just launched a shiny new website! Have a dig about yourself and see what it’s all about – http://www.proformracing.com

Happy Punting everyone and make sure you tune in tomorrow for plenty more from NTF!

Ben – (NTF)