BAMAKO MORIVIERE

6yo g Califet - Halladine

Trainer: W P Mullins

It has taken a while for this six-year-old to get going over fences but he has now won his last two starts and was deeply impressive on his most recent appearance in a Grade 3 novice chase at Cork. The form of that race could hardly have worked out better; 16-length runner-up Jury Duty won the Grade 2 Florida Pearl Chase on his next start, and it was a further 12 lengths back to the third, Woodland Opera, who took the Grade 2 Craddockstown Chase on his next run.

Bamako Moriviere was in the Drinmore Chase but wasn’t declared which suggests he may have had a setback. But he remains very interesting and all the form lines have him right up there in the 2m 4f novice chase division. He is 33/1 for the JLT Chase and that is a huge price.

DAVIDS CHARM

6yo b g Milan - Have More

Trainer: J.J. Walsh

John Joe Walsh’s horse continues to go from strength to strength and he could well be the most progressive National Hunt horse in training. He has leapt forward on each of his last four runs, with the latest coming in the big handicap hurdle on Hatton’s Grace day at Fairyhouse. He is now rated 143 but there should be more to come, considering he is only a six-year-old and he has run just eight times over hurdles. His next target is said to be the Coral Handicap Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival. He’ll be a huge player there and he could well find even more improvement when he goes back up in trip.

PENHILL

6yo g Mount Nelson - Serrenia

Trainer: W.P. Mullins

Penhill is a horse to follow over jumps in 2018 and he is also a horse to follow on the flat. Over jumps he has won six of his nine races. He could hardly have been more impressive when winning the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham where he travelled like a dream, was hampered at the second last but still arrived there on the bridle and won, going away, from the very useful Monalee. He will be a huge player in the staying hurdle division if he is back in time. If not, all is not lost, as connections can go down the Royal Ascot route, which was the plan before he met a setback this year. Anything that Willie Mullins runs on the flat deserves a second look and it would be no surprise if Penhill’s ultimate goal was a trip to Melbourne next November.

SEPTEMBER

2yo b f Deep Impact - Peeping Fawn

Trainer: A.P. O’Brien

It’s hard to fathom how September didn’t manage to win at least once at Group 1 level this year. She got stopped twice in her run before getting to within a head of Laurens in the Fillies’ Mile before going on to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf where she missed the break – something you just couldn’t get away with on that track – before finishing a fast-closing third after coming wide off the turn. Good ground looks the key to her so you can easily excuse her runs behind stablemates Happily and Magical on soft ground at the Curragh earlier in the season. All roads lead to Epsom for the Oaks (10/1) and, with her illustrious pedigree, she looks set to come into her own over a mile and a half.

SUPASUNDAE

7yo b g Galileo - Distinctive Look

Trainer: Mrs John Harrington

Supasundae prospered last season when meeting good ground conditions over longer distances and he can progress again next spring. In the meantime, he is still a live player in the Grade 1 Squared Financial Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown next Thursday. Jessica Harrington was delighted with his first run of the season when he finished third in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse. She said the horse should come on a bundle for that outing and there is evidence to back this up, as Supasundae has won on his second start of the campaign for the past two seasons. Even if he runs well without winning, it will enhance his World Hurdle claims, as he should be able to produce better form in the spring.