Gavin Cromwell
Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Cheltenham & Navan preview
William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell previews a selection of his runners across Cheltenham’s November Meeting and the Navan Racing Festival.
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Cheltenham, Friday
We start off at Cheltenham on Friday with Welonlyhavedone in the Grade 2 Novices’ Hurdle (3.30pm). He had a nice win at Galway, but I wouldn’t read into that too much because it was quite an ordinary race. He fell the last day when he looked to be going well and that seemed a good race. He wouldn’t have been too far away but for the fall.
I’m confident he’ll run well, whether he’s good enough to win, I’m not sure. We’re happy with him at home and he should give a good account of himself.
Cheltenham, Saturday
We run Secret Force in the Grade 2 Triumph trial on Saturday (12.35pm). He was my juvenile hurdler to follow for the season and we’re happy with him so far. He’s a nice horse with a good pedigree. He’s had a great start to his jumping career and seems to really enjoy it.
It’s very early days to say whether or not he’ll be up to running in the Triumph Hurdle at the Festival. Christmastime is when we’ll see a lot of horses appearing and we’ll get a better read on it. He’s got a nice pedigree and scope to improve, but he’ll have to improve plenty to be a Triumph horse.
We have two in the Gold Cup Handicap Chase (2.20pm). Thecompanysergeant didn’t stay the three miles the last day in Listowel, so we’re coming back to 2m4f here which is his ideal trip. He likes the track, everything looks right for him and he has a nice chance.
The Other Mozzie has been working well since he came back in after a summer break and I think he’s strengthened up a bit. We’re back up in trip here and I’m just not sure if that’ll stretch him, but he’s in good form.
The confidence would be more with Thecompanysergeant given his form around the track and over the trip, whereas The Other Mozzie is off a career-high mark and might not stay. That said, he is open to improvement being the younger horse.
Londonofficecallin goes in the three-mile handicap hurdle (2.55pm) off a mark of 125, which is possibly a bit harsh. Hopefully he can still run well. The trip shouldn’t be a problem. This is a competitive race, but he’s in good nick and we’re happy with him.
Cheltenham, Sunday
We could kick off Sunday at Cheltenham with Aspurofthemoment, who is entered in the handicap chase of three-and-a-half miles (2.55pm). He is out of the handicap and will need the weights to go up to be in the handicap proper. He isn’t travelling to Cheltenham with the rest of our horses, but may follow on if we decide to send him.
I do think he can win a big handicap off his current mark. He’s a young horse going in the right direction.
My bumper horse to follow, Bud Fox, starts his season in the Listed bumper (4.00pm) here. We’re happy with him at home and looking forward to getting him started. He was a good winner at the Punchestown Festival and he’ll have to step forward to be winning here. We like him a lot and he should be bang there.
It’s very early days to be looking at the Champion Bumper with him. We haven’t seen many bumper horses yet and I’m sure Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott will have plenty to unleash. We’ll worry about the present for now.
Navan, Sunday
There are some valuable handicaps at the Navan Racing Festival on Sunday and we have two in the 2m5f handicap hurdle (1.57pm). Reiki Revolution won a maiden hurdle on his first run for us and was impressive on the day. He did everything right and jumped well. He’s been going well at home and hopefully he can be competitive.
Ask Anything is back over hurdles after going chasing. He’s been off the track for a while, so we’re looking forward to getting him back out and getting a run into him. He has a lower mark over hurdles and hopefully he can run well off that.
We have four entered in the big race on Sunday, the Grade 3 Troytown (2.32pm), which looks very competitive. Will The Wise jumps well, he’s suited to the race, the trip won’t be a problem and he’s a nice horse to have in there.
We also have Yeah Man in there. He’s exposed to the handicapper now, but he’s working well at home and we’re happy with him. I thought he would’ve run a better race in the Muster National, but it was his first run back and maybe he just got racing a bit early. He seems in good form and hopefully he can be competitive having run really well in the race last year.
Union Station ran well earlier this month at Fairyhouse and he seems to have come out of that race well. He’s got a nice light weight, although he’ll probably be a couple of pounds out of the handicap. I’m happy enough with him and he could run well off a light weight.
We’ve entered Aspurofthemoment here as well but the ground is a bit of a worry because it’s soft to heavy at the moment and there is more rain forecast. We’ll keep an eye on it and it will also depend on whether he goes to Cheltenham.
Now Is The Hour runs in what looks a high-class beginners chase (3.07pm). He was declared to run at Fairyhouse earlier in the week before that was abandoned, so we’re just looking forward to getting him started.
He has an entry in the Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Newbury later in the month and he needs to blow off the cobwebs before that. Hopefully he can run well and we’ll build towards Newbury off the back of that.
