JEFFERSON’S ARK SAILING TOWARDS CHELTENHAM’S LADBROKES TROPHY
Meeting - Festival Trials Day
Date - Saturday, January 27, 2007
Admission Prices - Club/Tatts £20; 16-24 £12; Best Mate £8
Malton handler Malcolm Jefferson is hoping to take advantage of the prevailing ground conditions at Cheltenham this weekend with Roman Ark, who is heading for the £55,000 Grade Three Ladbrokes Trophy Chase (3.55pm) over two miles and five furlongs on Saturday, January 27, Festival Trials Day.
The improving nine-year-old - a Grade Two winner over hurdles and a 7/1 shot with Ladbrokes - goes to Prestbury Park at the top of his game having landed his last two starts over fences, most recently when powering to a 14-length victory over Wain Mountain at Haydock Park over two and a half miles on January 6, relishing the heavy conditions underfoot.
Jefferson said today: “Roman Ark is heading to Cheltenham on Saturday for the Ladbrokes Trophy. He’s a very decent horse, especially on the kind of ground he had at Haydock last time.
“The first time he ever ran over fences at Aintree, he was a little bit unlucky and slipped into the fence. He was slightly hesitant at his fences after that - but not any more.
“This year he has done everything right - we couldn’t be happier with him - and he loves testing ground. I think when you get that ground you should be going to the races - it’s an advantage to him and a disadvantage to the others.
“He’s coming out of his races better this year than he ever has before - he’s in great form. Three miles on a better surface should be no problem to him - his mother won over that trip - but he seems to be best on heavy ground over two and a half miles.”
Having finished an excellent fourth behind Non So in the Grade Three Racing Post Plate at last year’s Festival, a return trip to Cheltenham in March could again be on the agenda for Roman Ark, although conditions would need to be suitable for him to take his chance.
Jefferson continued: “The Festival could be the plan again, but we’ll just have too see. When the ground is in his favour then he should run, but if the ground is too fast, then he won’t. He ran a hell of a race at Cheltenham last year in a very hot contest, on ground that was plenty quick enough.
“Fergus King will be in the saddle again and he’s as good as anybody riding today - it wouldn’t be me taking him off, put it that way!
“I like to let my horses do the talking, so I’m not saying that he’ll go and win, but he’s a smashing horse who is in great fettle, and I’m looking forward to Saturday.”
The Ladbrokes Trophy Chase has attracted a superb 24-strong entry, including Paddy Power Gold Cup and Boylesports.com Gold Cup hero Exotic Dancer, who has an alternative engagement in the £100,000 Grade Two Letheby & Christopher Chase (2.45pm) earlier on the card.
Other high-class entries include Vodka Bleu and New Alco, second and third respectively behind Exotic Dancer in the Paddy Power Gold Cup, Billyvoddan, impressive when taking the valuable BGC Silver Cup at Ascot last month, and Copsale Lad, runner-up to Reveillez in the Jewson Novices’ Handicap Chase at the 2006 Festival.
Cheltenham saw light snow showers overnight and temperatures of -2 degrees centigrade, and the going remains heavy. Clerk of the Course Simon Claisse is confident that the meeting will beat the current inclement weather, having deployed sheeting to cover the entire racing area.
Admission prices for the fabulous day’s racing on January 27 are Club and Tattersalls combined £20 with 16-24-year-olds paying £12 and the Best Mate Enclosure £8. The Best Mate package is £25 and the Rooster Booster package £46, both of which need to be booked in advance.
Le Volfoni 5/1
Idole First 6/1
Vodka Bleu 6/1
New Alco 7/1
Roman Ark 7/1
Knowhere 9/1
Billyvoddan 10/1
Ever Present 10/1
Bold Bishop 12/1
Little Brick 12/1
No Full 12/1
Coat Of Honour 14/1
Copsale Lad 14/1
Nadover 14/1
Yes Sir 14/1
Cousin Nicky 20/1
Innox 20/1
Iris Royal 20/1
Royal Auclair 25/1
Fundamentalist 33/1
Herecomestanley 33/1
Whispered Secret 33/1
Lord Broadway 200/1
Each-way bets 1/4 odds first 4
ROSSES POINTED AT SKY BET CHASE
SOUTHWELL CLERK EXPECTS CONDITIONS TO IMPROVE
Welsh trainer Evan Williams is hoping for some respite from the wintry conditions as he aims the progressive Rosses Point towards his prime target, the £60,000 Sky Bet Chase (2.20pm) at Southwell on Saturday, January 27.
Williams revealed this morning: “Rosses Point is well and I would like to run him in the Sky Bet Chase because that’s the race we’ve been looking towards since his last race. I hope the weather is kind to us!”
The eight-year-old, 7/1 joint-favourite with sponsor Sky Bet, has been a revelation this season and will bid for a hat-trick of handicap chase victories in the prestigious three mile, half a furlong contest, which will be shown live on Channel 4.
After closing his 2005/2006 campaign with victory in a three-mile handicap hurdle at Worcester, Rosses Point has captured a brace of three mile, one and a half furlong handicap chases at Wincanton and Ludlow and Williams believes the Roselier gelding is ready for his sternest test to date.
The Vale Of Glamorgan handler reported: “He’s a horse that has progressed more than we could ever have dreamt for really. He came in from his summer break so obviously better in himself.
“His breeding suggests that he will get better as time goes on but his whole attitude and physical appearance has just changed since the summer. His confidence is very high and it’s a big step up in class but I do have this feeling that he’s a very fast-improving horse.
“He’s going to win a good race sometime. Whether it’s Saturday, I don’t know, but he’s definitely the type of horse that’s going to go and win a similar type of race to the Sky Bet Chase somewhere during his career, given a certain amount of luck.”
Williams has only the slightest of concerns about the possibility of testing ground at Southwell but believes that Rosses Point will banish any doubts.
He explained: “I would be slightly concerned about heavy ground. Again, his breeding suggests that won’t be a problem and I’d only be concerned because he’s never raced on it, but that’s the only reason.
“I’d be very disappointed indeed if he didn’t handle ground like that. I’d always prefer him to be running in heavy ground with 10st 1lb on his back rather than with 12st or 11st 1lb on his back. This type of race looks tailor-made for him.
“He’s a horse that has to be held up way off the pace and in that ground you’d like to think that they’d be stopping and coming back to us at some stage.
“The Sky Bet Chase has been his target and these things very rarely come off when you target a good race like that, but if it’s not this Saturday, you’ll definitely see Rosses Point winning a very big race one day, all being well.”
The Listed handicap has attracted a 23-strong entry and has a safety limit of 16. The Sky Bet Chase will be staged at the Nottinghamshire venue for the second consecutive season while its traditional Doncaster home undergoes redevelopment.
The Venetia Williams-trained Coral Welsh National runner-up Mon Mome is the other joint-favourite at 7/1 with the Harrogate-based sponsor.
The classy Sky Bet Chase entry also includes the James Fanshawe-trained Reveillez and the Nicky Henderson-trained Copsale Lad, who filled the first two places in the Jewson Novices’ Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival last term, Grade Three Paddy Power Gold Cup Chase third New Alco, the David Pipe-trained It Takes Time and Whispered Secret, Iris Royal, Cloudy Lane, Ever Present and Mount Clerigo.
GOING
Southwell clerk of the course, Jon Pullin, is hopeful that racing will go ahead on Saturday despite a covering of snow at the Nottinghamshire track, saying: “We have had three centimetres of snowfall over night and we’ll see what happens during today.
“There are wintry showers forecast but hopefully no further snow. We are expecting freezing temperatures tonight but the situation does look like it will improve towards the end of the week into Friday.
“Things had improved yesterday with regard to the going but with the best part of three centimetres of snow to melt, that will put us back in terms of the drying process, so I still anticipate it being heavy, soft in places.”
LATEST PRICES FROM SKY BET
Mon Mome 7/1, Rosses Point 71, New Alco 8/1, Rambling Minster 8/1, Nozic 9/1, Cloudy Lane 10/1, Ever Present 10/1, Sharp Belline 12/1, Simon 12/1, Umbrella Man 12/1, Nadover 14/1, Reveillez 14/1, Copsale Lad 16/1, Ardaghey 18/1, Whispered Secret 18/1, Florida Dream 18/1, Iris Royal 18/1, Kasthari 18/1, Little Big Horse 20/1, Lady Of Scarvagh 20/1, Mount Clerigo 25/1, Herecomestanley 25/1, It Takes Time 25/1
Each Way terms: 1/4 of odds for 1st 4 places
EUROPEAN ALL-WEATHER SERIES BONUSES REPEATED FOR 2007
For the fourth year in succession, the European All-Weather Series is offering a bonus of €250,000 (Euros) to the owner of any horse that can win all five races and €100,000 (Euros) for winning any four of the races in the series. There will also be a consolation prize of €10,000 (Euros) for a horse winning three races.
Some of Europe’s leading all-weather horses are expected to meet in the Grand Prix de la Riviera Cote d’Azur at Cagnes-sur-Mer on Sunday, February 11, the first leg of the 2007 Series.
The leading challenger from England hoping to capture the first prize of nearly £21,000 is expected to be the Mick Easterby-trained Gentleman’s Deal who is unbeaten on the all-weather having won five times, twice at Wolverhampton and three times at Southwell, the most recent being on New Year’s Day.
At least three horses from Italy and Germany are due to run at Cagnes, including Gandolfino who in 2006 was runner-up in his home race at Neuss. Two of the leading French contenders are likely to be the 2006 Grand Prix de la Riviera winner Howard Le Canard and the John Hammond-rained filly Mount Eliza, winner of the Listed Premio Giuseppe Valiani at Rome last year.
The other four races in the series are the Neusser Sandbahn Grand Prix, 1900m (9.5 furlongs) at Neuss, Germany, on March 4, then the Group Three Winter Derby, 2000m (10 furlongs), on March 24 at Lingfield Park, the Gran Premio del Circo Massimo at Rome over 2050m (10.25 furlongs) on April 15 and finally the Pramms Memorial over 1,730m (8.5 furlongs), on May 11 at Jagersro-Malmo, Sweden.
Entries for the first leg at Cagnes-sur-Mer on February 11 are due by January 31.
For old articles (from 1st March 2000) go to the Newslink
Archive
