Gavin Cromwell
Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Cotswold Chase opens up Stayers’ Hurdle and Grand National for Flooring Porter
William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell provides an update on Flooring Porter’s change in plan from the Cleeve Hurdle to the Cotswold Chase.
Cromwell also previews his runners on Thursday’s Thyestes card at Gowran Park and Cheltenham Trials Day.
Cheltenham, Saturday
Flooring Porter will make his return on Cheltenham Trials Day in the Grade 2 Cotswold Chase (2.25pm). We did a complete U-turn on our plan to run him in the Cleeve Hurdle, the though process being that this is a smaller field and he may not get as hard a race. There shouldn’t be as much hustle and bustle, and he won’t be forced to make the running.
It will also be his sixth run over fences, which qualifies him for the Grand National. This brings back into play the option of running him in both the Stayers’ Hurdle and the National. If we’d run him in the Cleeve Hurdle he would’ve needed another run over fences to qualify for the National, which wouldn’t have worked if we wanted him to have the option of the Stayers’ as well.
It’s still possible that he could run in both the Stayers’ and the National. There’s four weeks and three days between the two races. To be honest, though, it is one day at a time with him at the moment. He’s coming back off a long injury, so we’re not getting ahead of ourselves yet.
The Cotswold Chase is still a huge ask. He’s been off the track for the best part of 18 months, so if he runs a nice race we’ll be happy with that.
We also have Final Orders and Peaches And Cream in the Cross Country. Obviously Final Orders will have to carry a penalty for winning there the last day. He’s taken to it really well and you’d have to think he’ll be a player again here. It’s all about who turns up on the day.
Gowran Park, Thursday
We start off with Champagne Jury in the maiden hurdle (12.40pm). I was a bit disappointed with him the last day where we probably forced him a little bit too much. There was a lot of pace on and it just didn’t suit him. He’s in good form and we’re hoping he’ll be competitive in this.
The Lovely Man has an entry in the handicap hurdle (1.10pm) and the Thyestes later in the day. He needs proper soft or heavy ground and he’s probably a better chaser than hurdler. We’d like to run him in the Thyestes, but he’s unlikely to get in. If he ends up over hurdles we’d still be hopeful he can run a good race.
Rackemandstackem was a bit disappointing on handicap debut and he goes again in the two-mile handicap hurdle here (2.20pm). He gained a bit of experience at Limerick but I’m just not sure about the ground for him; I think he’d benefit from better ground.
Along with The Lovely Man, we have a few entered in the Thyestes (3.30pm). Yeah Man is a consistent staying chaser and the conditions of this race should suit. We’re happy with him at home and he should have a live chance. He does have an entry over hurdles at Doncaster on Friday, but he won’t travel over for that.
We also have Now Is The Hour. He ran a good race at Leopardstown over Christmas where he finished fourth in the Listed chase. He ran a good race there and he goes into this in good form, so he should have a good chance.
