Three to follow from the weekend: 12th, 13th & 14th November…

Paddy Power Gold Cup weekend in the form book and the Betfair Chase at Haydock ready to smack us in the chops on Saturday…so that must mean we are entering the part of the year where we find the really deep National Hunt ground, right? RIGHT?!  

Seriously, has anyone seen the rain?! 🌧☔⛈

At this rate Nicky Henderson will be keeping his stable stars wrapped up until mid-January… 😐

It is what it is though and we work with what mother nature gives us and here’s three horses from the past weekend of racing that should be worthwhile additions to your own notebooks…

Three to follow from the weekend: 12th, 13th & 14th November…

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JOBSONFIRE (S Allwood)

2nd in a Class 4 Handicap Chase – 12.30 Worcester (Friday 12th) 

The 9yo improved plenty for his PU debut effort over fences from last time out but his mistake at the last here cost him any chance of victory. I suspect he may just have finished second anyway but he is blessed with a deep well of stamina to draw upon so he could possibly have ground down the winner and snatched the win.

He’s basically a low-ish level out and out stayer who needs a run to get himself going and he’s worth looking out for under the following…

C4 level & below | 2m7.5f+ | DSLR 60 or less

…where he now holds form figures of…

2111 (3/4, 1p – all 3 career wins)

This Worcester race was run above par for the level based on Proform Speed figures, suggesting it was a decent race for the grade, and based on his best hurdle form I don’t see Jobsonfire’s current mark of OR 113 being too much of a barrier, especially over even more testing trips. 

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GALAHAD QUEST (N Williams)

5th in the Paddy Power Gold Cup Handicap Chase – 2.15 Cheltenham (Saturday 13th) 

The 5yo possibly found things happening a bit too quick for him in the early stages on the Good ground (his first run on ground as quick) but he did stay on strongly after the last and again gave the impression that he is one with plenty to offer from on or around his current handicap mark (he gave the same impression on seasonal debut at Wetherby last time out).

Both his wins to date have come on Soft ground so he’s one of those that is worth keeping in mind for when the ground finally begins to soften up and it would be a shock should he not have a handicap in him at some stage this season.

He was actually dropped 1lb for this run to a mark of OR 134 and that looks generous, especially when you consider the fact that he recorded his best speed figure for this effort (again using Proform Speed figures as the gauge). 

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TOPOFTHECOTSWOLDS (N Twiston-Davies)

2nd in a Class 3 Handicap Chase – 2.00 Wetherby (Saturday 13th) 

This was a decent effort from the 7yo as he generally needs a run to sharpen him up (he is now 0/8 off breaks of longer than 45 days) and he’s worth keeping on the radar in the short-term as he does look on a winnable mark at present (ran in this off OR 130…has been put up 1lb to OR 131…has won off OR 132 and placed off as high as OR 136 previously).

He’s a horse with quite strong Prime Conditions to his name and I’d be looking to back him under the following…

C3 or less | DSLR 45 or less | G/S or quicker | LH tracks

…where he has form of…

11111F2222 (5/10, 4p – all 5 career wins – hampered on the fall)

He’s basically a very consistent sort who regularly runs to his best when meeting with his prime racing conditions.

Cheers – Ben (NTF)

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