Jack Richards Novices' Limited Handicap Chase |
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| Cheltenham 14:00 Grade 2, £125,000 guaranteed, 5yo plus, 2m 4f 127y, Class 1 
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There are few prizes more coveted in National Hunt racing than a winner at the Cheltenham Festival, and for Fergal O’Brien the pursuit of that elusive success has become something of a narrative thread. This year, however, hope travels in the shape of Sixmilebridge, a horse who has already altered the mood music at Ravenswell Farm.
Soft ground sits prominently on the trainer’s wishlist as he contemplates how best to deploy his Scilly Isles hero. The Megson Family-owned seven-year-old provided O’Brien with a first Grade One since Crambo’s Long Walk triumph in late 2024 when making virtually all under an inspired ride from Kielan Woods at Sandown. It was bold, controlled and ultimately decisive.
🚨 Sixmilebridge to WIN the Jack Richards Novices Handicap Chase!
— GG (@ggcouk) February 13, 2026
While @MattySutcliffe is still happy with our 33/1 position on Slade Steel for the race, but he'd also like to get onside with Sixmilebridge...
This race looks strongly suited to this promising chaser. 👀 pic.twitter.com/3RIQ0s27sN
The market reacted accordingly, installing him at 10-1 for the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase. Yet context is everything. Sixmilebridge has thus far excelled at intermediate distances over fences and, with the memory of Paul Nicholls’ Caldwell Potter landing the handicap equivalent 12 months ago still fresh, that route offers a compelling alternative.
“It was a great day and I was delighted for the Megsons,” said O’Brien. “It has sunk in now and I’m grateful to have a horse like him in the yard, he’s such a good horse and we’ve always thought that.
“I’m just focusing on getting him to Cheltenham first before deciding on his target and he’s had a quiet week after a hard race.
“There are a lot of things to consider and in the mix and if it came up bottomless and there were only four runners in an Arkle you could go that way, while if it was very soft you wouldn’t want to go three miles in a Brown Advisory.
“Probably his best trip at the minute is two-and-a-half miles with him wanting three miles in time, so in an ideal world, and I could make a wish, it would be soft ground and I would probably line him up in the handicap.”
That blend of pragmatism and ambition feels entirely fitting. The Festival, for all its pageantry, has been an unforgiving arena for O’Brien. He has saddled high-class performers and enjoyed notable victories at Cheltenham outside the March extravaganza, but the meeting itself has so far resisted him.
On his wait for a first winner at the meeting, O’Brien added: “I can’t wait to get it over with and hopefully he is as good a chance as we’ve had.
“We were unlucky with Alaphilippe (beaten a neck in the Pertemps) and Imperial Alcazar (second in the Plate) on the same afternoon (in 2022) and Barney Dwan went close when he bumped into a very good Graded horse (Presenting Percy, when second in the 2017 Pertemps).”
For Evan Williams, the arithmetic is simple and the variable unmistakable: rain.
Juby Ball’s name sits among the entries, but whether he takes his place will depend less on ambition and more on the skies above Prestbury Park. For a horse who powered 18 lengths clear at Chepstow, conditions are not a footnote; they are central to the equation.
Williams, a Festival-winning trainer who knows the value of patience, has made it clear that any decision will be guided by underfoot realities. “He’s got the entry in the Jack Richards and ground would be important to him. Whether the track would be ideal would be questionable.
“We had to enter him because everything else looked ideal really, the trip and a novice handicap.
“There are no firm plans, I couldn’t say he’s definitely going there. but if the rain came and we thought it was the right thing to do then it’s something we’d definitely look at.
“We had to enter as it looks the type of race he had to be in. I’m not saying we will go, but I’m certainly not ruling anything out either.
“I loved his last run and I think he’s a nice horse.”
That Chepstow display, visually emphatic and numerically decisive, suggested a novice still on the climb. The trip of the Jack Richards appeals; the handicap structure fits. Yet Cheltenham’s unique demands, particularly on drying ground, introduce a layer of doubt that Williams is unwilling to ignore.
In essence, Juby Ball’s participation remains poised between promise and precipitation. If the rain arrives and the surface turns in his favour, the Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap Chase becomes a live option. If not, discretion may yet prove the better part of Festival valour.
Jack Richards Novices' Chase
(Grade 2 Handicap)
£125,000 guaranteed, 5yo plus, 2m4f127y, Class 1
60 entries
Going: Good to Soft
NO. FORM HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY (form as of Feb 25)
1 -23121 Jacob's Ladder 7 11-12 Gordon Elliott
2 111224 Gold Dancer 7 11-11 W P Mullins
3 1D9-111 Sixmilebridge 7 11-9 Fergal O'Brien
4 14-221 Koktail Divin 6 11-9 Henry De Bromhead
5 0-1231 No Questions Asked 8 11-8 Ben Pauling
6 5-2131 Wendigo 7 11-6 Jamie Snowden
7 27-461 Joystick 7 11-6 W P Mullins
8 22-2B2 Slade Steel 8 11-5 Henry De Bromhead
9 12-312 Regent's Stroll 7 11-4 Paul Nicholls
10 45-115 Ol Man Dingle 7 11-4 Eoin Griffin
11 P01213 Downmexicoway 7 11-4 Henry De Bromhead
12 7-1113 Mambonumberfive 5 11-3 Ben Pauling
13 1131P6 King Of Kingsfield 8 11-3 Gordon Elliott
14 1/1P41 Soldier In Milan 7 11-3 Emmet Mullins
15 03-231 King Alexander 8 11-3 W P Mullins
16 4-0541 C'Est Ta Chance 7 11-3 W P Mullins
17 06-232 Wingmen 8 11-1 Gordon Elliott
18 5-8314 Western Diego 9 11-0 W P Mullins
19 71-322 Kiss Will 6 11-0 W P Mullins
20 0-2050 O'Moore Park 9 11-0 W P Mullins
21 6-3143 The Enabler 7 10-13 Gordon Elliott
22 2P-126 Moon Rocket 6 10-13 Kim Bailey & Mat Nicholls
23 2-1F11 Jordans Cross 6 10-13 Anthony Honeyball
24 -22140 Will The Wise 7 10-12 Gavin Cromwell
25 -1U848 Anyway 8 10-12 David Kenneth Budds
26 13-116 Meetmebythesea 6 10-12 Ben Pauling
27 1-2422 Quebecois 7 10-12 Paul Nicholls
28 8-7760 Sandor Clegane 9 10-11 Paul Nolan
29 P8-15U Intense Approach 7 10-10 John C McConnell
30 2P14F4 Prends Garde A Toi 7 10-10 Gordon Elliott
31 5-5111 Jour d'Evasion 7 10-10 Henry Daly
32 59-1F7 Uncle Bert 9 10-10 Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies
33 7-4363 Waterford Whispers 8 10-10 Henry De Bromhead
34 20-521 Stencil 5 10-10 Noel George & Amanda Zetterholm
35 1-1F21 Juby Ball 7 10-10 Evan Williams
36 8-4112 Western Knight 7 10-9 Joe Tizzard
37 F51254 Relieved Of Duties 7 10-9 Gordon Elliott
38 2-31F3 Old Cowboy 6 10-8 Gary & Josh Moore
39 -P0421 Millforce 7 10-7 Henry Oliver
40 30-113 Zurich 7 10-7 Henry De Bromhead
41 -32530 Patter Merchant 7 10-7 Gordon Elliott
42 13-121 The Bluesman 7 10-7 Olly Murphy
43 -46464 Karl Des Tourelles 6 10-6 Philip Fenton
44 9-FP33 Da Capo Glory 9 10-6 Padraig Butler
45 U47F06 Where's My Jet 7 10-6 W P Mullins
46 0P-314 Jipcot 7 10-6 Jonjo & A J O'Neill
47 6P2-11 Iceberg Theory 7 10-6 Paul Nolan
48 0-4374 McLaurey 7 10-6 Emmet Mullins
49 -00542 Beckett Rock 7 10-5 Henry De Bromhead
50 -22617 Ballybawn Belter 8 10-5 Liz Doyle
51 211262 Josh The Boss 7 10-5 Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies
52 -F1243 Kdeux Saint Fray 6 10-4 Anthony Honeyball
53 U42245 Kim Roque 6 10-4 Joseph Patrick O'Brien
54 29-833 Dr Eggman 8 10-3 W P Mullins
55 26-387 Lisnagar Fortune 8 10-0 John C McConnell
56 1-2142 Knight Of Allen 6 10-0 Jane Williams
57 8-512U Ben Solo 7 10-0 Rebecca Curtis
58 18-113 Koukeo 6 9-10 Jonjo & A J O'Neill
59 14-233 Al Kalila 7 9-9 S R B Crawford
60 761300 Jacovec Cavern 7 9-7 Paul Hennessy
