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Racing News |
Souffleur Hoping to Rise to the Occasion
18/11/09
Trainer Peter Bowen is optimistic that Souffleur can provide his handler with a change of luck in the £100,000 Listed Timeform Betfair Racing Club "Fixed Brush" Handicap Hurdle (2.20pm), one of the highlights of a superb seven-race card at Haydock Park on Saturday, November 21.
The Pembrokeshire-based handler sent out Irish Wolf to be a close second in the three mile, one furlong contest in 2006, and saw his Special Envoy fall at the final flight with the race at his mercy the following year, handing victory to Millenium Royal.
Last year, Souffleur found only According To Pete nine lengths too strong when burdened with top-weight. The six-year-old, successful in the Grade One Challow Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury in December, 2007, missed the rest of last season with a leg injury but is reported to be in fine shape by his handler.
Bowen reported today: “Souffleur is on course for the Timeform Betfair Racing Club "Fixed Brush" Handicap Hurdle. He came back with some heat in his leg after he ran in the race last year so we felt that he could do with some time off. He needed three or four months off and the season would have been over by the time we got him back so we decided to wait until this term.
“He is in very good form at the moment and I think that he is getting back to his best. He should get soft ground at Haydock and he ran a blinder in last year’s race - especially considering that he came back with the heat in his leg and he was giving weight all round.
“I am hoping that he can become a leading candidate for some of the top staying hurdles this season. He is going to Haydock in great shape and I am hopeful that he can run well.
“I know that we haven’t had the best of luck in the race in recent years, with Irish Wolf getting pipped on the line by Halcon Genelardais and Special Envoy falling, but the victory of Snoopy Loopy in the Betfair Chase more than made up for those disappointments.”
Souffleur may be joined in the Timeform Betfair Racing Club "Fixed Brush" Handicap Hurdle by the progressive Time For Rupert, from the stable of Paul Webber. The progressive five-year-old comfortably landed novice hurdles at Catterick and Huntingdon last season before gamely fighting off Inchidaly Rock to triumph in the Listed totepool Handicap Hurdle at Aintree’s John Smith’s Grand National meeting in April.
Webber revealed: “We have given Time For Rupert the option of the Timeform Betfair Racing Club "Fixed Brush" Handicap Hurdle and it depends on the going. It is a bit of a worry running him on heavy ground on his seasonal return, especially over three miles and a furlong under a large weight.
“He also has the option of going to Ascot for the Grade Two hurdle there, which looks like it will be a hot race. He will run somewhere and the more sensible competition will be at Haydock, but I just don’t want to bottom him on heavy ground - he’s a possible runner rather than a probable runner at the moment.
“He has done fantastically over the summer - physically he has improved tremendously and he is much stronger. He is fitter now then he was on his first start of last season but he is facing stronger competition this time round.
“He’s only five and the plan is to keep him over hurdles this term. It looks like there is going to be a tremendous bunch of novice chasers this season and we thought that it might be wiser to keep him over the smaller obstacles.
“We are very pleased with him indeed and we are keen to get him to a racecourse this weekend.”
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Other notable contenders include last season’s John Smith’s Grand National fourth State Of Play, Grade Two runners-up Ring The Boss and Wendel, and the progressive Charity Lane.
Saturday’s card also features the £200,000 Grade One Betfair Chase (3.00pm), for which 13 horses were confirmed yesterday headed by dual winner Kauto Star, Irish Grade One scorer Notre Pere, dual Grade Two victor Madison Du Berlais and Imperial Commander, successful in the Grade One Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival last season.
The second day of the Northwest Racing Masters at Aintree on Sunday, November 22, features two races over the formidable National fences. The three and a quarter-mile £100,000 Listed totesport.com Becher Handicap Chase (1.45pm) is a leading trial for the John Smith’s Grand National, with both Amberleigh House and Silver Birch having triumphed in both races in recent years.
Plenty of John Smith’s Grand National clues are also set to be revealed in the £70,000 totesuper7 Grand Sefton Handicap Chase (12.35pm), which is run over an extended two miles and five furlongs of the National course and is an open handicap for the second time this year.
Peter Bowen is no stranger to success over the unique obstacles, having sent out Dunbrody Millar to win the 2007 John Smith’s Topham Chase, and the trainer is keen to see how Valley Ride and Always Waining fare over the world famous fences.
Valley Ride landed a Listed handicap chase at Market Rasen on his first appearance for Bowen at the end of September before coming home 11th in a similar contest at Wincanton on November 7.
Always Waining was seventh behind his stable-companion at Market Rasen, having triumphed in the same race 12 months earlier. The eight-year-old gained valuable experience over the National fences when coming fourth in last season’s John Smith’s Topham Chase but struggled on his latest start to be 13th in a Listed Handicap Chase at Ascot on October 31.
Bowen commented: “Valley Ride has been given an entry in both the totesport.com Becher Handicap Chase and the totesuper7 Grand Sefton Handicap Chase and he will run in one or the other.
“I felt that he travelled a bit too well at Wincanton and just failed to get the trip. Up until then, I had thought that he would stay three miles easily but he had never travelled so well in his races for his previous connections.
“So he could run over the shorter trip of the totesuper7 Grand Sefton Handicap Chase, but we really want to get him over the National fences to see how he adapts to them.
“Always Waining will also be running over the National fences this weekend and we will decide nearer the time which race to go for. He had a little bit of a blip last time out at Ascot but I think that it was a fact that Sam Thomas didn’t know the horse too well.
“Soft ground wouldn’t be the ideal situation for him but he has jumped well over the fences before, which is always a big plus.”
