Gavin Cromwell
Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Cheltenham, Fairyhouse & Navan preview
William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell previews his runners across Cheltenham, Fairyhouse and Navan this weekend.
Bioluminescence reaction
I was disappointed with Bioluminescence’s run in the William Hill Half A Mill Becher on Saturday. She jumped well and there weren’t really any excuses, she was just weak in the finish. She’s come out of the race absolutely fine.
We’ll probably go back to mares only races with her for now and see how she goes. She’s quite high in the handicap and I think she’s just struggling with that at the moment.
Cheltenham, Friday
We’ll have two runners in the cross country on Friday (3.00pm). We did have Vanillier entered there, but unfortunately the ground has just come up too quick for him, so he won’t run.
Keith Donoghue will ride Final Orders. He seems in good order and he’s working well. He ran a good race at Punchestown on his first time back. He’ll enjoy the good ground, the step up in trip should suit and with the benefit of the run under his belt he could go well.
Peaches And Cream is much further down the handicap and will love the good ground as well. We were happy to get a run into him at Punchestown the last day, even though he was beaten a long way in the end. He just got a bit tired at the finish and he’ll come on for that run.
Cheltenham, Saturday
We’ve just got the one runner there on Saturday with Me Wee Bonnie Lass in the mares’ handicap chase (1.15pm). We’re very happy with here and hoping that she can be competitive here in what looks a strong race with a good number of runners.
She’s in good shape and conditions should suit. She lost a bit of confidence in her jumping when unseating at Gowran Park, but she looks to be getting it back and showed more promise the last day at Naas. She’s in a grade where she can be more competitive now and I’m hoping she’ll run well here.
Will The Wise held and entry in the December Gold Cup, but he won’t go. He has an entry here on New Year’s Day and also in the Listed Chase at Leopardstown after Christmas. We’ll decide closer to the time where he runs, but he’s definitely one we’d like to go to the Festival with next year and it would be great to win one along the way if we can.
Fairyhouse, Saturday
We have a few entries in the William Hill Each Way Extra Challenge Series handicap hurdle and we’ll have to see which ones get balloted in. Caman Rocco ran a nice race the last day at Clonmel, which was his first run in a handicap. We hope she’s up to winning one of these.
It’s a fantastic initiative, we’ve had a few runners in it already and we’re doing alright in the stable standings. Obviously we’re not in the running for the trainers’ prize, but I know it’s very appealing for those who are. It’s a great initiative that’s been really well received.
Navan, Sunday
We have a few runners entered in some of the handicaps at Navan on Sunday. A few of our hurdlers don’t look terribly well handicapped unfortunately. We do have The Lovely Man entered there and he’s only had the one run for us. Hopefully he can build on that.
We have some nice entries in the handicap chases there and In The Trenches could be the pick of them. He goes in the two-mile chase (1.50pm) hoping to pick up his first win. He’s finished second 11 times now, but he’s still going in the right direction, he’s working well at home and he could break his duck here.
Bridie’s Beau was a good winner for us Clonmel on handicap chase debut earlier this month and he’s one I’m hoping could get on a roll. He’s entered in the 2m4f handicap chase and it’s a nice pot for the grade, so we’re hoping he’ll be competitive.
Another interesting one is Press The Button who goes in the Listed bumper (3.35pm). The ground is going to be very testing but he’s a winner of a bumper already and we have to go the winners’ route. It looks a good race on paper at entry stage and im sure it’ll be a strong field, but we’ll take our chance and see how he gets on.
