Road to Cheltenham: Elimay, Thedevilscoachman and Jungle Boogie all impress
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Our man David Stevens looks at the weekend’s market movers
With the weather playing havoc with the fixture list, Saturday’s cards at Newbury and Warwick were called off well in advance, but the good news is both were quickly rescheduled.
Allmankind will have his Sporting Life Arkle prep run in Warwick’s Kingmaker on Monday afternoon, while Newbury’s big day will now take place next Sunday.
In a surprise move, trainer Nicky Henderson has already said that Altior will not take his place in the rearranged Game Spirit Chase, and will instead head straight to the Queen Mother Champion Chase, while his stablemate Champ will warm up for the WellChild Cheltenham Gold Cup by lining up in the Game Spirit in place of Altior.
So, in the absence of any meaningful action on this side of the Irish Sea, what few Cheltenham Festival clues we saw occurred at Naas and Punchestown.
Elimay’s Listed Mares Chase victory at Naas on Saturday saw her claim favouritism for the inaugural Mares’ Chase next month at 3/1 (from 4/1), while her owner, JP McManus, picked up another Listed contest at Punchestown on Sunday. That winner, Thedevilscoachman, is now 12/1 for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. A later winner on the Sunday card, Jungle Boogie, was trimmed to 33/1 (from 40/1) for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication.
