Sporting John reserves its final place

Last adventure for Sporting John

sporty jeans booked its ticket for the Pertemps final in March – if that is the route chosen by the liaisons – with great success in the Pertemps qualification.

Philip Hobbs’ charge is now 8-1 for one of the most competitive runs at the Festival after finding his way to victory under Aidan Coleman.

A first-year winner over the fences last year before crashing out at Cheltenham being drawn at Aintree, he had won and finished fourth at Cheltenham in two races before that.

“His form was in the book and he won it with a pretty high rating (151),” Coleman said. “The race went perfectly, we were in good position to turn and the way the race went, you had to be in the line of fire, which he likes – everything went like clockwork .”

Cheltenham next for Threeunderfive

three under five booked their ticket to the Cheltenham Festival and the possibility of an extra £25,000 bonus by continuing their wins in the Wigley Group Hampton Novices’ Chase.

Trained by Paul Nicholls and owned by Max McNeill, neither was about to witness their second win as a sophomore, as both are vacationing in the Caribbean and there’s no doubt the champagne corks would have jumped away from home.

Adrian Heskin was positive on the 8-13 favorite and bounced him back into an early lead and in truth he never seemed to be caught, heading home three and a half lengths ahead of Dean Breed, who received 5 pounds.

The conundrum now for connections is to run in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase in March, for which he is 16/1 (from 25s) with Betfair and Paddy Power, or the National Hunt Chase on three thousand six where he is 8 /1 from 10s with Sky Bet.

Threeunderthrufive is also in the new Weatherbys nhstallions.co.uk Novices’ Chase at Lingfield next week, but is highly unlikely to return soon.

Heskin wasn’t surprisingly thrilled with his ride: “Apart from his first run of the season he was faultless and gave me a better feeling today than Doncaster. I know people think we should be running in the National Hunt Chase, but it’s deceptively faster than it looks. I defer to Paul.

Iain Turner, McNeill’s race director, said: “The owner and the trainer are meeting for dinner in Barbados tonight and if he had been beaten it would have been an equal match to see who called off first. , I think ! He’s at Lingfield just in case something happens here. I doubt he’ll run away, but we’ll see how he does.

“I think we favor Brown Advisory by the minute. Last year we were hesitant to take on Monkfish with Escaria Ten. Monkfish was far from his best but still won, and we ended up going up against Galvin in the National Hunt Chase and he’s almost the favorite for the Gold Cup now.

“The bonus for everyone who wins this and at Cheltenham is a big boost, it definitely made us decide to come here rather than Lingfield, so well done to everyone involved.”

Seasca shines in Courage Cup

Courageous Seasca continued his progress by covering every yard of the race to win the Alder Demain & Akers PMS Oxford Edward Courage Cup Handicap Chase at Warwick.

The lightly run seven-year-old arrived after victories at Warwick and Ascot – and had been so impressive he ran a mark 16 pounds heavier than the former of those.

It looks like the handicapper still has some catching up to do as the in-form combination of Charlie Deutsch and Venetia Williams snagged another fine prize.

The 4/5 favorite beat last year’s winner Sky Pirate, who won the Grand Annual, by seven lengths, and that Cheltenham run is now in Williams’ sights. It can be backed at 16:1 with Paddy Power and Betfair.

“I’m very happy. We can’t get too carried away as he’s been gaining weight (20lbs) from Sky Pirate, but you should be pleased with his progress,” Williams said.

“I was actually yelling at Charlie to keep going, but he knew what was under him and he left after the last one. The Grand Annual should be given serious consideration now.

Rolling start for punctuation

Punctuation (favorite 15/8) got a kick out of his debut with Fergal O’Brien in the Handicap Hurdle Start Your RacingTV Free Trial Now Novices.

A clever performer on the flat for Andrew Balding, he had failed to transfer that ability to hurdles for Charlie Longsdon.

Having his first race since May and starting from a modest mark of 95, Paddy Brennan just had to make sure he avoided any trouble on his way to victory by four and a half lengths.

O’Brien’s partner and assistant, Sally Randall, said: “We spent a lot of time bringing him home, so doing it for the first time means a lot. He is a reliable horse and whatever happened today, everything depended on the future.

“He’s a natural jumper, but he can get angry very easily. It worked well today being the first race and we brought it in late.