Shouldvebeenaring’s owners were delighted after they saw their late entry for the Prix de la Foret pay off with a gallant run at ParisLongchamp, but they could now face a similar conundrum with regards to Qipco British Champions Day.
The Richard Hannon-trained grey was supplemented for the French Group One after the ground, which is usually soft in Paris in autumn, turned out to be rather quicker than expected.
Ridden by Sean Levey, the colt held his own at the level once again, finishing third behind Kelina and Kinross in a field of 14 to justify the decision to add him to the line-up.
“Vindicated and relief are the two words that spring to mind! Spending €25,000 to go in comes with a little bit of pressure, so to see him run so well, we were absolutely thrilled,” said Tim Palin of owners Middleham Park Racing.
“Every day as the week went on it was drying up and then they were breaking track records, we knew it would play into his hands because he is best on the top of the ground.
“It was a great ride from Sean and there was a thrilling moment there when you thought he was coming to win, but of course the two class acts were just a length or two in front of him.
“For all that we got there, we couldn’t quite go past but to even finish in the same postcode as Kinross is a real feather in our horse’s cap, a real testament to his tenacity and his durability.
“He’s danced pretty much every dance this year, there’s only one month that he’s not run in this year.
“I think one of the beauties of him is the way that he switches off in his races and the way that Sean rides, it just means that he only ever has to sprint for two furlongs in his races. He’s not a make-all, eyeballs-out horse who is on the speed and in the thick of it from start to finish.”
The gamble also paid off financially as his prize-money well exceeded his supplementary fee, and similar calculations could now justify another late entry – this time for the British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot.
Again the ground will prove pivotal with quick going preferred, meaning connections will keep a keen eye on the weather forecast as they weigh-up the Ascot race with the Challenge Stakes at Newmarket just over a week beforehand.
Palin said: “There’s a couple of options – he is in the Challenge Stakes, a week on Friday, the Group Two, that’s seven furlongs at Newmarket and he’d probably go there with a favourite’s chance. We’ll have to talk to Richard and Sean and give him a breeze next week to see if he’s over his exertions.
“That would be on the agenda, but that’s only about eight days before the Champions Sprint at Ascot. We’d need to look at the weather forecast to see whether we’d dare wait another week for the rain not to arrive or the heavens not to open.
“He’s not in there, realistically because at the time of entry you’re assuming it’s going to be soft or heavy ground. A bit like the Foret, he was never in that, we took the decision to wait and supplement and of course it paid off.
“Being second at Haydock in the Sprint Cup meant that he earned £91,000, so that gave us a little bit of financial wiggle room to be able to play the supplementary game. It cost €25,000 to go in the other day and he earned €40,000, so there’s plenty of money in the kitty if we need to supplement for that.
“The weather gods might shine on us, literally, in that week coming up to it but we’ll have to make a decision before we truly know – declarations for the Challenge Stakes will be on the Wednesday and it’s another 10 days to the Champions Sprint.
“It’s going to be a precarious weather watch to see which way we go.”
Jumping off the radar now for Murphy following Wincanton abandonment
Oisin Murphy still hopes to “one day” ride over hurdles – but following the abandonment of Wincanton on Thursday he has nothing lined up in the foreseeable future.
The three-times champion Flat jockey was due to have his first spin over obstacles aboard the Cian Collins-trained Lets Do This in the Danny McNab Bookmakers “National Hunt” Novices’ Handicap Hurdle at the Somerset track.
However, the fixture was called off following significant rain, with clerk of the course Daniel Cooper able to make a decision well ahead of the planned 8am inspection.
As part of his Flat commitments, Murphy is due to head for a stint in America on December 22.
“Unfortunately I don’t have any plans to ride over jumps after today. It will be difficult now with my schedule. One day!” said Murphy.
Cooper is also clerk at Exeter, where Friday’s planned card fell victim to a waterlogged track.
Sunday’s card at Huntingdon, which is scheduled to feature the Grade Two Peterborough Chase, is subject to a further precautionary inspection at 7.30am on Friday after passing an initial check on Thursday.
Friday’s Sedgefield card and Saturday’s meeting at Wetherby have both been lost to waterlogging, with the British Horseracing Authority adding an additional all-weather card at Wolverhampton on Sunday.
Ascot riches the Christmas aim for Hansard
A festive outing at Ascot is next on the agenda for Hansard following his coming-of-age victory at Newbury.
A bumper winner in Ireland for Charles O’Brien, the five-year-old was subsequently snapped up for 48,000 to join Noel Fehily Racing Syndicates and was sent to Gary Moore.
He won his first two starts over hurdles for his new connections last winter, finished fourth in a Grade One at Aintree in the spring and finished second to a race-fit Rubaud on his seasonal reappearance in the Elite Hurdle at Wincanton last month.
Making his handicap debut in the Gerry Feilden at Newbury, Hansard showed his class to get back on the winning trail and is now being readied for the £150,000 Betfair Exchange Trophy on December 23.
Fehily said: “We were delighted with Hansard in Newbury the other day. I think riding him for speed in a fast-run handicap suited him.
“We were probably a bit disappointed after Wincanton, but he hasn’t had that much racing and I think he’s just learning to settle and learning to do his job properly, hopefully.
“We’re looking towards Ascot with him just before Christmas.”
Another horse who will look to carry the colours of the successful ownership group to big-race honours over the Christmas period is the Fergal O’Brien-trained Kamsinas.
Having landed the Grade Two Newton Novices’ Hurdle on his latest start, the six-year-old is poised for a Grade One bid in the newly-named Formby Novices’ Hurdle – formerly the Tolworth – which for the first time will take place at Aintree on Boxing Day.
“That is probably the plan. He’s come out of the race at Haydock really well, so we’re probably looking at going to Aintree with him,” Fehily added.
“We were delighted with him the other day and Aintree should suit him well, I’d say.
“He’s an improving horse, so hopefully there’s more to come from him.”
Henderson on weather watch ahead of Constitution Hill return
Nicky Henderson will be monitoring the situation at Sandown ahead of the rearranged Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle in which Constitution Hill is set to make his seasonal reappearance.
The race was frozen off last weekend at its usual home of Newcastle but swiftly rescheduled for Saturday’s Tingle Creek card.
With Jonbon already odds-on for that Grade One, Henderson then added another of his stable stars to the Esher cast when confirming that Shishkin, not long ago the number one attraction at Seven Barrows, would have his prep for the King George in the Fighting Fifth after refusing to start at Ascot last month.
However, as ever the British weather is doing its bit to put a spanner in the works and while the meeting at Sandown is not in any apparent doubt, the going on the hurdles track is already soft, heavy in places with plenty more rain forecast over the next 48 hours.
“It’s going to be horrible ground and it’s going to make everything very tricky,” said Henderson.
“We’ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out tomorrow and we’ll be monitoring the situation closely.
“He’s declared so obviously we want to run him but it is close to the Christmas Hurdle, so it just might not be in his best interests.
“We all want to run, I just want to warn people that we will be assessing the conditions and I cannot guarantee that everything will take part on Saturday.
“The others are intended runners at this stage. Willmount is in the first race (Claremont Novices’ Hurdle) and he’s never run on heavy, so we need to find out if he handles this ground.
“As for Jonbon, we’ve always felt he was at his best on better ground, but he has won on soft and I’m pretty sure we’ve got stamina in our pocket.”
At present Nico de Boinville will be riding Constitution Hill leaving his understudy at Henderson’s yard, James Bowen, to come in for the ride on Shishkin.
The multiple Grade One winner was last seen planting himself at the start in the 1965 Chase at Ascot, and was denied a subsequent outing in the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle on the Fighting Fifth card.
“I’m really excited to be riding Shishkin and it is an honour to ride him,” said Bowen.
“I didn’t know I was definitely on him until the declarations today as there was a chance I could have gone to Aintree, but it has ended up working out well for me.
“I’ve ridden a few nice horses, but he would be by far the best horse that I’ve ever ridden in a race. It is great they have rescheduled the race, and it is great to be part of it.
“I’m not saying he is going to go and win, but hopefully he can run a good race to get his season up and running after what happened at Ascot.
“This was not Plan A or Plan B. It is a case of it being Plan C, but it is a good stepping stone for him and his targets later on in the season.”
Jonbon is odds-on for the Tingle Creek in which he will face four rivals – Boothill, Edwardstone, Haddex Des Obeaux and Nube Negra.
Also on the Esher menu is the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase, where the Joe Tizzard-trained JPR One bids to atone for an unfortunate mishap at Cheltenham last month.
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