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Midnight Chasing Further Cheltenham Glory
04/12/10
Midnight Chase is set to bid for a third consecutive victory at Cheltenham this season in the £40,000 Listed www.maxwell-drummond.com Handicap Chase (1.15pm) over three miles, one and a half furlongs on the first day of The International on Friday, December 10.
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The Neil Mulholland-trained eight-year-old posted an impressive all-the-way success in the extended three-mile Sportingbet.com Handicap Chase at The Showcase in October and recorded another relentless front-running triumph in the Grade Three Morson Group Handicap Chase over three furlongs further at The Open on November 13.
Mulholland revealed: "Midnight Chase will be given an entry in the www.maxwell-drummond.com Handicap Chase. Hopefully, the racing can go ahead and the ground does not get too testing for him.
"He won on good to soft at The Open but we wouldn't want it to ride any slower - he jumps better and travels better on a faster surface. He will be taking a step down in distance but everyone was wondering whether we would stay the trip last time and he is not dropping back down too far.
"He's gone up 9lb in the ratings, but he went up the same amount before he won at The Open and still won by eight lengths. We have been wondering whether the handicapper had got hold of him ever since he won off a mark of 105 at Folkestone two years ago but he is a horse that keeps on improving.
"We know that he likes the track, which is a great confidence booster, and he is fit and well at the moment, so fingers crossed that he runs another good race at Cheltenham."
Cheltenham will host a terrific eight-race card on the second day of The International, Saturday, December 11 following the transfer of the Grade One Keith Prowse Hospitality Tingle Chase (1.55pm) from Sandown Park.
The £150,000 Grade Two StanJames.com International (3.05pm) over two miles and a furlong is set to be contested by some of the leading contenders for the Stan James Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham on the opening day of The Festival, Tuesday, March 15.
The Philip Hobbs-trained Menorah has been victorious on both his visits to Cheltenham, taking the Grade One Supreme Novices' Hurdle at The Festival in March and the £100,000 Grade Three Greatwood Handicap Hurdle under top-weight at The Open on November 14.
Paul Nicholls is aiming Silviniaco Conti at the StanJames.com International after the unbeaten four-year-old posted an emphatic victory in the Grade Two Ascot Hurdle over two and a half miles on November 20, while Colin Tizzard is contemplating letting last season's Weatherbys Champion Bumper winner, the exciting Cue Card who is unbeaten in four starts, take his chance after the four-year-old sauntered to a facile victory in the Grade Two Cheltenham Collection Sharp Novices' Hurdle at The Open.
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The second day of The International also features the £150,000 Grade Three Vote A P Gold Cup (2.30pm), renamed today to boost the chances of 15-time Champion Jump Jockey A P McCoy winning the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year award. The 30 remaining entries for the two mile, five furlong handicap chase include Little Josh, who posted a pillar to post victory for trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies and his jockey son Sam in the BetVictor Gold Cup at The Open.
Other notable contenders include the Nicky Henderson-trained Dave's Dream, who also triumphed at The Open when readily taking the paddypower.com Handicap Chase, the Paddy Power Gold Cup runner-up Dancing Tornado, from the stable of Michael Hourigan in Ireland, and Great Endeavour, who won the Byrne Group Plate at The Festival for trainer David Pipe.
The remaining races on Saturday's card include a pair of Grade Two contests - the £35,000 Unicoin Homes Relkeel Hurdle (1.20pm) over an extended two and a half miles and the three-mile £25,000 Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle (3.40pm).
