Sam Twiston-Davies’ William Hill Blog: Idalko Bihoue has a Grand chance in the Sefton

William Hill ambassador Sam Twiston-Davies previews his rides on Grand Sefton day at Aintree on Saturday.

Before we dive into the weekend’s rides at Aintree, I want to look back at a few standouts from the past couple of weeks, including Potters Charm, who showed a great attitude with a strong win at the Cheltenham Showcase. He was a bit green up front, but we’ll work on sharpening up his jumping. The key now is to make a bit of a plan for him—perhaps a return to Cheltenham or there is a nice race at Sandown. Either way, it’ll be good to see him in a slightly bigger field, as he’s shaping up to be the right type for that.

Broadway Boy, meanwhile, has come back in top form since Cheltenham. He’s looking sharp and handled his race well. While his trip could be a little bit sharper, he jumped impressively at the Showcase, though he did have the bad luck of running into a couple of Irish horses that day. Still, it was a very encouraging reappearance, and it looks likely we will be sending him to the Coral Gold Cup at the end of the month.

Another pleasing win was Clap Of Thunder. On paper, the race wasn’t the strongest, but we’ve always thought highly of him at home. His reappearance at Chepstow was a bit of a letdown, so it was great to see him make a big step forward and really enjoy himself at Ascot. He won that race nicely, and he’s definitely one to watch as he continues to progress.

Fast start to the season

Things have been going very well lately, and part of that is thanks to my relatively new relationship with James Owen. I’ve been fortunate to ride some lovely horses for him, and I’m really enjoying it. He has a fantastic team, his horses are well-schooled, and he’s got some classy Flat types as well, so it’s a pleasure to be working with him and his team.

It’s been a strong couple of weeks with a good run of winners, and my strike rate’s looking solid, so I’m thoroughly enjoying it at the moment. That said, I’m not a contender for the Jockeys’ Championship. You need a massive volume of rides for that, and while I’m lucky to be busy with my dad’s horses and James Owen’s, who are both flying, it still gets trickier as the season wears on. When a lot of your rides come from the same stable, you can manage your schedule more smoothly. In my position, it often becomes a balancing act, picking and choosing where to go each week.

Aintree, Saturday

Glynn Brae (12.20pm) kicks off our day at Aintree in the Novices’ Handicap Hurdle. He’s shown real promise, particularly with his strong win at Stratford, where he travelled beautifully. He jumped impressively in his schooling session at home on Thursday, and I feel he’s come on even more since. This step up to two-and-a-half miles should suit him well. It’s a competitive race on Saturday, but with fitness on our side, I’m confident he’ll be right in the thick of it.

Uncle Bert (12.55pm) lines up in the second race, coming off a frustrating run at Carlisle last Sunday, where he had to be pulled up unexpectedly by James Turner. We’re still not entirely sure what went wrong—he’s more accustomed to running on left-handed tracks, so maybe that played a part. This return to a left-handed course at Aintree should suit him better, especially with the continuous rail around the chase track. He’s a lovely horse, and though we threw him in at the deep end with a two-mile debut at Uttoxeter, this significant step up in trip should play to his strengths. Here’s hoping we’ll see him perform much more to his potential on Saturday.

Guard The Moon (1.30pm) made an impressive start to his handicap career last month, winning decisively at Warwick and pulling well clear of the field. It was what I’d call a solid, honest performance, with him jumping beautifully throughout. We’re still getting a feel for him, but there’s every reason to expect further progress. He’s already shown a nice upward trajectory, moving from his win at Hexham in May to that strong performance at Warwick in October. Hopefully, he’ll continue on this upward curve at Aintree.

Next up is Idalko Bihoue (2.40pm), who has an excellent record when fresh, so we’ve kept him that way specifically for the Grand Sefton. He’s a horse that doesn’t need a lot of racing, and he’s in great form at home, having been well-prepared for the National fences. We have set up a baby national fence for him in training, and he jumped it beautifully. He’s very fit, and Saturday should give us a good indication of his potential moving forward. With only 13 runners in the day’s feature race, he’ll get a good sighter of his fences.

Prolific Profile (3.15pm) is a promising ride I’m picking up for Katy Price in Saturday’s penultimate handicap hurdle. He actually got the better of one of ours, Ned Cash, at Uttoxeter at the start of October—a race we thought Ned Cash would win. Prolific Profile is on a real upward trajectory, having won his last three races. Of course, with that success comes a higher handicap mark, making things a bit tougher. But when a horse is on a roll and confidence is high, it’s hard to know where their ceiling might be.

Star Of Guiting (3.50pm) runs in the bumper, and I’m really fond of this three-year-old. He’s got strong family connections, being related to two bumper winners, and his work at home has been fantastic since his racecourse debut. That said, he did struggle at Exeter, so I’m hoping he learned a lot from that experience. Fingers crossed, we’ll see a much-improved performance on Saturday in the final race of what promises to be another superb day of racing at Aintree.