Wednesday, March 10, 2010
ACCEPTORS FOR DAY ONE OF THE FESTIVAL - TWISTON-DAVIES SWEET ON KIM FOR SMURFIT KAPPA CHAMPION HURDLE
With now less than a week until The Festival 2010 gets underway, the countdown intensifies with the unveiling of the acceptors for the six races on day one, Tuesday, March 16.
Topping the bill is the £370,000 Grade One Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle (3.20pm), for which 17 horses stand their ground. Defending champion Punjabi is one of three possible starters for trainer Nicky Henderson along with Binocular, who finished third 12 months ago, and Zaynar, victorious in the JCB Triumph Hurdle at The Festival in 2009. If Henderson were to win the hurdling championship this year, he would join Peter Easterby as the most successful handler in the race’s history with five wins, following Punjabi’s victory and the hat-trick achieved by See You Then (1985, 1986 and 1987).
Irish-trained horses account for 10 of the 17 entries remaining in the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle and include last year’s Spinal Research Supreme Novices’ Hurdle victor Go Native and Solwhit, who headed the ante-post market in the past few weeks but is now facing a battle to make the final line-up following a dirty scope at the weekend.
Champion trainer Paul Nicholls is set to be represented by last year’s runner-up Celestial Halo while Khyber Kim, trained locally by Nigel Twiston-Davies, will attempt to maintain his 100 per cent record at Cheltenham this season. Twiston-Davies has unerring faith in the eight-year-old, who laid down his championship claims in the autumn. After clinching a course and distance victory in the Grade Three Greatwood Hurdle at The Open in November, Khyber Kim saw off last season’s Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle runner-up Celestial Halo to take the Grade Two Boylesports.com International, with Medermit third and reigning champion Punjabi back in fourth.
The Naunton handler revealed today: “Khyber Kim is in tremendous form and we are very confident going into the race. In my opinion, he is the forgotten horse but never mind, let’s go and win.”
The progressive gelding’s three successes over hurdles have all come with ease in the ground but Twiston-Davies believes that to be incidental.
He said: “The first day of The Festival will probably be the softest ground anyway but he doesn’t need soft. He has a lot of class and I’m very happy with him. I don’t think Paddy Brennan or I would swap him for any other, in fact I’m certain we wouldn’t.”
Final declarations for the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle take place on Sunday, March 14, while the remaining five races on Tuesday, March 16, have 24-hour declarations on Monday, March 15.
The Festival gets underway with the traditional curtain-raiser, the £100,000 Grade One Spinal Research Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (1.30pm), for which there are 34 acceptors, headed by Dunguib. The seven-year-old, triumphant in the 2009 Weatherbys Champion Bumper and unbeaten over hurdles, had been given an entry in the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle but now has the Spinal Research Supreme Novices’ Hurdle as his sole target following today’s acceptance stage.
A vintage renewal of the £150,000 Grade One The Irish Independent Arkle Trophy (2.05pm) is in prospect with 17 possible starters at the six-day confirmation stage. Currently heading them is Captain Cee Bee, trained in Ireland by Eddie Harty and seeking a second success at The Festival following his victory in the Spinal Research Supreme Novices’ Hurdle two years ago. Another leading contender Sizing Europe also hails from Ireland and the former top-class hurdler is unbeaten in four starts over fences. Henrietta Knight, trainer of the triple totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Best Mate, looks to have another star on her hands in Somersby, who finished third to Go Native at The Festival last year and is unbeaten in both his outings over fences so far.
The handicap action on Tuesday, March 16, consists of the £80,000 Grade Three William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase (2.40pm), for which there 55 acceptors, while day one also plays host to the £45,000 Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Steeplechase (4.00pm) over Cheltenham’s unique Cross Country course. All of the previous five renewals of this race have fallen to horses trained in Ireland, with four of those going to horses owned by J P McManus and trained by Enda Bolger. Irish-trained horses account for 12 of the 25 acceptors with five hailing from the Bolger stable including Garde Champetre, the winner for the past two years as well as L’Ami and Drombeag, the second and third in 2009.
Day one of The Festival draws to a close with the third running of the £90,000 Grade Two David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle (4.40pm), for which there are 21 entries going forward including Quevega, the imperious 14-length victor in 2009.
GOING
The going at Cheltenham is currently:
Old and New Courses: Good to Soft, Good in Places
Cross Country Course: Good, Good to Soft in places
SMURFIT KAPPA STANDS DOWN AS FESTIVAL SPONSOR AFTER 20 YEARS SUPPORTING THE CHAMPION HURDLE
Cheltenham Racecourse today announced that this year’s Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle, on Tuesday, March 16, will be the last under the sponsorship banner of the world-leading paper packaging group. The company has sponsored the race since 1991 in an era that has included the career of Istabraq, one of the most dominant hurdlers of modern times.
Reflecting on two decades of sponsorship at Cheltenham, Gary McGann, Group Chief Executive of Smurfit Kappa, said: “The Smurfit Kappa Group is pleased to have fully honoured its sponsorship commitment to the Champion Hurdle. We have enjoyed the excellent working relationship with the Cheltenham management team and we wish them every success in finding a suitable future sponsor for this famous event.”
Edward Gillespie, Cheltenham’s Managing Director, added: “It has been a joy to have the support of Smurfit Kappa for so many years. Sir Michael Smurfit, a great friend to racing, was initially the driving force behind the deal and it was appropriate that he had a runner in the first Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle in 1991.
“It wasn’t until 1998 that the great Istabraq became the first Irish winner of the race under the Smurfit banner, and since then, Irish-trained horses have won on a further six occasions.
“On behalf of everyone at Cheltenham, I’d like to express our huge gratitude to Smurfit Kappa for everything the company has done to promote this great race.”
Peter McNeile, Director of Sponsorship at Cheltenham, commented: “Smurfit Kappa has been an excellent partner and will be difficult to replace, but we already have some interest from other parties and will begin the process of recruiting a new sponsor for what is one of the iconic races once the dust has settled on The Festival 2010.”
CRAVEN STAKES TO BE BACKED BY RACING POST BREEZE UP BONUS
One of Newmarket’s leading Classic trials has a new sponsor this year. The Group Three Racing Post breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes, run on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile on Thursday, 15th April, is being backed by sales consignors who are offering owners a big incentive to purchase a two-year-old in the coming weeks.
The Breeze Up Bonus Scheme, sponsored by the Racing Post, carries a prize fund of up to £500,000 for graduates of six different two-year-old breeze up sales in Britain, Ireland and France.
The scheme offers a £5,000 bonus paid out on a ‘first come, first served’ basis to eligible winners from the 2010 breeze up sales. A horse can win up to two of the bonuses, so a total of £10,000, until the total fund has been fully claimed.
The scheme is funded by both the breeze up vendors, who will put in £500 per horse, and the sales companies who will contribute £150 for each two-year-old.
The breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes coincides with the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale, which takes place after racing on 14th and 15th April, and from which graduates last year included Grade One Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Vale Of York and Passion For Gold, who landed the Group One Criterium de Saint-Cloud.
The Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale is one of six sales from which graduates will be eligible for the Racing Post Breeze Up Bonus Scheme.
The other sales are the Goffs Breeze Up at Kempton Park this Friday (12th March), the DBS Breeze Up at Doncaster on 20th-21st April, the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up at Newmarket on 29th-30th April, the Arqana Breeze Up at Saint-Cloud in France on 15th May and the Goresbridge Breeze Up in Ireland on 21st May.
The Racing Post breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes traditionally attracts some of the best three-year-old Classic aspirants to Newmarket and last year’s race was won by Delegator, who went on to finish second to Sea The Stars in the Stan James-sponsored 2000 Guineas.
The 2008 contest was won by Twice Over, who went on to win last season’s Group One Emirates Airline Champion Stakes at Newmarket.
The Racing Post breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes was previously sponsored by the County Tipperary-based Bansha House Stables of consignor Con Marnane, who is a member of the Racing Post Breeze Up Bonus Scheme committee.
Marnane said today: “We first put together the Breeze Up Bonus Scheme last year as a self-help initiative in these economically testing times and it proved a great incentive for buyers. We hope that this year’s scheme of up to £500,000 will again encourage owners to invest in a two-year-old at the upcoming sales.
“This new sponsorship provides a great shop winner for the Racing Breeze Up Bonus Scheme during a high-profile sale and we hope that many of the two-year-olds sold this year prove good enough to line up in the 2011 Racing Post breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes.”
Michael Prosser, Director of Racing at Newmarket Racecourses, commented: “This is a great initiative and an excellent example of the racing industry assisting itself.
“We look forward to welcoming our sponsors along with their guests and are confident that the Racing Post breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes will once again be a high-class and informative race.”
For old articles (from 1st March 2000) go to the Newslink
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