Matt Brocklebank casts his eye over the weekend action and picks out the horses it could pay to follow in the coming months.
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Rock The World (left): Remains a horse to follow despite defeat
If you smell what the Rock is cooking
Rock The World was beaten in the two-mile handicap hurdle at Leopardstown on Saturday but he was giving the best part of a stone to the winner and remains a horse to follow.
Formerly a bit of a frustrating type, having taken seven goes to open his account over hurdles, he now looks to be getting the hang of things and should keep progressing as he gains more experience.
Jessica Harrington’s six-year-old took a marked step forward when beating A Sizing Network by seven lengths in a novice event at Punchestown earlier in December and this effort was another career best.
If anything Rock The Work hit the front a shade too soon and his mistake at the last proved costly as Shantou Ed was allowed to get back in front.
The market signals were strong ahead of Saturday’s event, giving the impression Harrington feels his mark is a fair one, and a return to Leopardstown for the hugely valuable Boylesports Hurdle could be the next port of call.
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Swivel’s turn will come
Bivouac and San Benedeto fought out an exciting finish to the juvenile hurdle at Kempton on Saturday but there was a lot to like about the performance of third home Swivel.
He’s a 97-rated Flat recruit from the Mark Johnston stable, winning his races on the level on decent ground and the all-weather.
The soft ground in the William Hill – Bet Watch Juvenile Hurdle would therefore have been totally against him, yet he jumped with proficiency and stuck to his task well under tender handling.
The son of Shirocco didn’t seem to have the pace of the front two but should be seen to greater effect on a more demanding track and he’ll be better suited by good ground in the spring.
If John Ferguson can get a couple more spins into him before March then the Fred Winter could come into the reckoning as it doesn’t look like he’ll make up into a Triumph Hurdle contender.
He’s one to monitor extremely closely in the coming months.
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‘Land of hope and glory
Noel Meade had a fantastic time of things across Leopardstown’s big meeting and he’ll have been thrilled with the comeback effort of Monksland in the Christmas Hurdle.
The lightly-raced seven-year-old looked to have a very big future in the staying hurdle division after beating Zaidpour in the 2012 Christmas Hurdle, but injury struck.
He’s been given loads of time to get back to full fitness and it looked a good pointer that Meade had targeted a comeback in the very same race two years on.
A repeat success wasn’t to be, but he did much the best of those held up in a race ultimately fought out between the two front-runners.
Paul Carberry wasn’t particularly hard on Monksland after the last flight and it’s hoped he can build on this without a recurrence of the problem that kept him off the track.
In a World Hurdle market yet to really catch fire, he remains 20/1 in places and could yet have a say in the big one at Cheltenham.
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Pertemps Final destination for Zabana?
The Irish Pertemps qualifiers are always worth a revisit and Sunday’s Leopardstown event won in taking style by Usuel Smurfer should throw up a few subsequent scorers.
The Shark Hanlon-trained victor could still be on a very workable mark after reassessment but Zabana might be the one to keep an eye on with the final of this series in mind.
After landing a nice pot at Leopardstown last January, Andrew Lynch sent the son of Halling to Aintree in April for a Grade Three handicap hurdle won by Clondaw Kaempfer and he performed with real credit in fifth.
He raced too freely for his own good there and didn’t quite see the race out but looks to have matured with another summer on his back and the step up to three miles on Sunday brought about a really encouraging effort.
He made steady progress having taken up a midfield position early on and seemed to stay the extra distance well enough.
With an Irish rating of 130, he may need to rise a few pounds if before now and March if he’s to make the cut at Cheltenham and it will be fascinating to see where he goes next.
Vercingetorix – an all-round Triumph
Not a popular one for race callers but Vercingetorix is a name to conjure with after he hacked up on his Irish debut at Limerick on Sunday.
Leading owner Simon Munir already has a number of potential Triumph Hurdle candidates, including the ante-post market leader Peace And Co, but Gordon Elliott’s French import could represent better value in that market at this early stage.
A choicely-bred son of Dylan Thomas, Vercingetorix is fresh off the Andre Fabre production line, having competed in several Listed events for the French maestro earlier in 2014, and Elliott will be delighted with what he saw at the first time of asking over timber.
Granted, the opposition was weak and the ground was bottomless, but the three-year-old travelled oh so sweetly for Davy Condon and jumped really well, barring a minor mistake at the fourth.
He’ll probably need a relatively wet spring if he’s going to mix it with the best around at Cheltenham in March, but that never out of the question and the 25/1 on offer now could look huge if all goes well between now and the Triumph.
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There’s no Smoke without fire
Tim Vaughan will have been delighted on the one hand, frustrated on the other as The Wallace Line flew home to take third in the Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow.
Rated 114 prior to the race, this hardy type appears to have improved for soft ground and would have been of great interest with his sights lowered over the coming weeks.
The trouble is, he’s finished 13 lengths ahead of a horse rated 138 and while the form will not be taken literally by the handicapper, a revised mark of 120-plus looks likely and that may well be the end of that.
Instead, we’ll keep a closer eye on stablemate Wings Of Smoke who made his return to action in a most competitive handicap chase over three miles at Kempton on Saturday.
Not only was this nine-year-old reappearing following a seven-month break and off a career-high mark, but he was also trying three miles for the first time and, under the circumstances, he was entitled to get tired as they turned towards home in a race run at a good gallop.
It may just be that he requires a little help from the assessor but the way Wings Of Smoke moved throughout the first two miles of this quality handicap really caught the eye and, with soft ground a definite plus and the prospect of more to come next time, I can see him leaving this form well behind – potentially at a decent price.
It’s worth noting that he carried 11st 12lb to victory at Newbury in the spring so the ideal formula may well be a slight ease in grade and a slight drop in trip but, whatever his shrewd trainer has in mind, this is a chaser with a little bit more to offer.