I MAY have lost my money backing Haddex Des Obeaux for the Tingle Creek, but I was far from downhearted with his showing in the circumstances, and he emerged with plenty of credit despite losing second on the run-in after going toe-to-toe with Jonbon on his first start in pattern company.
He’s been on my radar for around a year and I think his career best at Sandown will encourage connections to keep him to graded races now; and I’m hopeful my ante-post bet for him in the Queen Mother Champion Chase will see losses lent at Sandown returned with interest, even if that merely means picking up place money. Haddex Des Obeaux unseated on his chase debut at Newton Abbot in October, then jumped to his left when a creditable second at Kempton, and he fell at Cheltenham on his return to action, but the six-year-old’s jumping belies those facts. Although he wasn’t always foot-perfect in the Tingle Creek, he outjumped Jonbon a couple of times, including when briefly getting in the driving seat at the Pond fence, and his ability to jump fast and bold against a horse of Jonbon’s raw ability is a positive pointer to the future.
That jumping was simply sensational in two wins as a novice at Doncaster and Warwick on contrasting ground, and he answered the question as to whether racing in the highest class would put a strain on his technique with a brave and willing display at the weekend.
Taking a cut
It’s possible to point to a couple of fences where he was slower than Jonbon, but the fact that he was able to come straight back and continue taking a cut at his obstacles left me in no doubt that he belongs in Grade 1 company, and he can only improve with age and experience.
Haddex Des Obeaux missed a clash with Jonbon in the Kingmaker at Warwick last season due to a bruised foot which also saw him miss the big spring festivals, but that may well prove a blessing in disguise given what was waiting for him at Cheltenham.
He must improve another stone to be considered a proper threat to El Fabiolo, but Gary Moore has history when it comes to producing Grade 1 two-milers from left field, having won at the highest level over fences with Ar Mad, Sire De Grugy, Editeur Du Gite and most recently Le Patron in the Henry VIII Novices on Saturday. Most of those were running in handicaps over fences before hitting pay dirt, so the fact that Haddex Des Obeaux has been prepped in lesser class races than the big guns should not be held against him. It’s the Moore way, after all.
Still Twiston, but no longer flailing
I COULDN’T help noticing that the anticipated nosedive in form from the Nigel Twiston-Davies yard has yet to materialise this season, and I wonder whether lazy stereotypes about the man Kim Bailey calls The Fat Farmer From Naunton (TFFFN) might mean runners from that stable will provide value in the coming weeks and months.
Traditionally, Twiston-Davies tried to make sure he got plenty of winners on the board in the early weeks of autumn, before the Nicholls and Henderson battalions hit full stride, but those easy pickings at Perth and Stratford aren’t so easy these days, with more and more Irish stables targeting the same fixtures.
Big Nige still has to place his horses carefully given he lacks the big-money owners of the major stables, but while he was pretty gung-ho with that placing in years gone by, his business is not just a one-man band anymore, and sons and partners Sam and Willy have taught the old man a few new tricks.
Windmills
His horses aren’t tilting at windmills where inappropriate these days, and where he might have gone through December at a 5% strike rate in the old days, his string have been winning consistently all season due to a focus on acquiring the right horses for the right races. 42 winners from 147 runners since September is an excellent return, and the strike rate for December remains high at 24%.
He looks to have a decent hand at Cheltenham over the weekend, and he’s doing sensible things like running Broadway Boy in a handicap against exposed chasers rather than take him to Kempton for the Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices.
The Twiston-Davies of old loved to give the big guns a black eye, but often took a fair old pasting before landing his big punch, and he’s belatedly learning that the patient approach can also pay dividends.
IT’S always nice to be able to have a rant, and the latest BHA proposal to ban trainers from having multiple entries in certain races ought to be lauded for that single reason.
Screaming into the void can be very good for coping with stress and stopping life’s vicissitudes getting on top of us, and I can only assume many likeminded people have used the press release as a means to deal with pent-up anger and frustration. I know I have, and I feel much better for it.
Of course, this form of therapy only works when you know that your rant will be the end of the matter.
If you’re still worried about the thing you’re ranting about afterwards, then the health implications can be dire, but there’s no need to fret, because these proposals can’t really come to fruition, and the stakeholders who have been asked to feed back on them know they’re as unworkable as they are daft.
Some people have suggested that any rule limiting a trainer’s ability to run five or six horses in one race will merely punish owners for choosing to send their horses to the best handlers, and while that’s true in theory, it would never happen in reality.
Trainers - and let’s be honest, we’re specifically talking about two trainers here, and neither of them are licensed by the BHA – aren’t stupid, and if the BHA tries to stop them from running six in the Pertemps Final or the Grand National, they’ll just find a way round the rule.
Assuming Joe Bloggs two doors down has six stables but only five horses in training, he might find himself with a big-race runner at short notice, but we’ll all know why, and we also know where that horse will be heading home to after said race.
“Aha”, says some sharp-eyed fan who has scanned the BHA’s rules. “It says here you have to be in a licensed yard for 14 clear days before you can run under rules in Britain!”
How many yards
That it does, Sherlock, but it doesn’t say how many licensed yards you can be in. As long as you’re moving a horse from one licensed yard to another, you can shuffle them any way you fancy, so the rule would be virtually toothless, unless Joe Bloggs tries to claim his share of the prize money, of course, but Joe’s not that daft either.
The irony is that nobody really cares if a trainer has a dozen runners in the Grand National, but they are inclined to care if a monolithic owner has the majority of the runners in a race, all carrying the same colours, as this obvious display of power and implied influence is unsettling and hard to ignore given the visual cues.
By the same token, if the same owner split his stock into separate ownership entities (using a spouse or company name, for example), with different silks for each, the sense of unease dissipates.
The ability to do something like this means any ban on block entries for such owners is unenforceable, and so will applying the same restriction to trainers. And breathe.