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SkyBet Chase |
Murphy Aiming for a Happy New Year at Cheltenham with Three Mirrors and Noir Et Vert 29/12/08
Trainer Ferdy Murphy is confident that Three Mirrors can get 2009 off to a flying start with victory in the £55,000 Grade Three skybet.com Handicap Chase (2.10pm), run over two miles and five furlongs, at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, Thursday, January 1.
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Murphy, successful in the skybet.com Handicap Chase with Ballinclay King in 2003, commented: “We have entered Three Mirrors in the skybet.com Handicap Chase and he is a proposed runner at the moment.
“I was absolutely delighted with his run in the Paddy Power Gold Cup and he has come out of that race in fantastic form. He is entitled to come on for that and is absolutely bursting for a run at the moment. He will have no problem with good to soft ground but the more the ground dries out, the better his chance - the one thing he can’t handle is holding ground.
“He was being aimed at the Boylesports.com Gold Cup at the Boylesports International and I was disappointed that the meeting was abandoned because it looked like the race was coming dead right for him. But we have to look forward instead of backwards and I am optimistic that he can he run a big race on New Year’s Day.”
A total of 20 horses have been entered for the skybet.com Handicap Chase and the weights are headed by the Paul Nicholls-trained Nozic (12st 1lb), which includes a 5lb penalty following his victory in the Grade Three skybet.com Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase at Wetherby on Boxing Day. The champion trainer could also be represented by Galway Plate scorer Oslot (11st 12lb) and last season’s Racing Post Plate runner-up Gwanako (11st 8lb), who defeated My Petra (11st 4lb) in a graduation chase at Ascot on his latest start.
Other notable entries include last year’s second Patman Du Charmil (10st 5lb), dual Grade Two-winning novice Hobbs Hill (11st 7lb), 2005 Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle victor No Refuge (11st 8lb), as well as Private Be (10st 11lb) and Il Duce (11st 4lb), who were third and fourth respectively in the Paddy Power Gold Cup.
Murphy is also optimistic over the chances of Noir Et Vert in the £25,000 Centaur Handicap Chase (1.05pm), run over an extended three miles and two furlongs. The nine-year-old was fourth on his first appearance for nearly 11 months in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Handicap Chase at The Festival in March and returned to Cheltenham to come home 10th on his seasonal bow in the IG Index Handicap Chase at The Showcase on October 17.
The Leyburn-based handler added: “Noir Et Vert is set to take his chance in the Centaur Handicap Chase and he will also come on for his first run of the season. He’s a good deal straighter now and the ground was a bit dead for him back in October and we would be looking to see him run a far better race on quicker ground.
“We will be looking at some of the marathon chases for him once again this year and I would be hopeful that he could run well at Cheltenham.”
A superb seven-race card at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day also includes the £35,000 Grade Two Aquanti “Dipper” Novices’ Chase (1.40pm), a two mile and five furlong contest that has already established itself as a true test for future champions since it was first run at Cheltenham in 2005, with previous winners The Listener (2006) and My Way De Solzen (2007) having progressed to glory at the highest level.
This year’s race looks set to be another top-quality renewal, with eight exciting novices entered. Paul Nicholls has entered last season’s Coral Cup runner-up Kicks For Free, who was second on his latest start in a Grade Two novice chase at Newbury in November, and Breedsbreeze, who defeated Massini’s Maguire in the Grade One Nigel Clark Feltham Novices´ Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.
Tom George could run French import Tartak, while Nigel Twiston-Davies may be represented by The Cool Guy, who finished second to subsequent totesport Gold Cup winner Denman in the Grade One Challow Novices’ Hurdle in 2006, when the race was staged at Cheltenham following the abandonment of Newbury.
GOING
The going at Cheltenham is currently good to soft and frost covers have been put down over the entire course.
Simon Claisse, Cheltenham's Clerk of the Course and Director of Racing, commented: "Providing the weather forecast is correct, we should be fine.
"It is forecast to get down to minus three or four degrees Celsius for the next three nights, but the entire course has been covered.
"The crucial factor is cloud cover. Fortunately, we have had cloud cover for the past two nights which has helped us."
2.10pm skybet.Com Steeple Chase (Handicap) (Grade 3) 2m 5f £55,000
YEAR WINNER AGE/WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP RAN
2008 VODKA BLEU 9-10-13 David Pipe Timmy Murphy 7/1 14
2007 TOO FORWARD 11-11-04 Carl Llewellyn Timmy Murphy 4/1 7
2006 FONDMORT 10-11-12 Nicky Henderson Mick Fitzgerald 100/30F 13
2005 LE DUC 6-10-08 Paul Nicholls Ruby Walsh 10/1 15
2004 WHEREAREYOUNOW 7-10-01 Nigel Twiston-Davies Carl Llewellyn 11/2 9
2003 BALLINCLAY KING 9-10-11 Ferdy Murphy Davy Russell 7/2 7
2002 ABANDONED
2001 ABANDONED
2000 THE OUTBACK WAY 10-11-10 Venetia Williams Norman Williamson 4/1 6
1999 EIRESPRAY 8-10-07 Sue Smith Seamus Durack 11/2 10
1998 PETE THE PARSON 9-10-02 Jim Old Mick Fitzgerald 3/1F 6
1997 ABANDONED
1996 ABANDONED
1995 ABANDONED
1994 SOUTHERN MINSTREL 11-10-06 Peter Cheesbrough Adrian Maguire 9/4 4
1993 ABANDONED
1991* NODFORM 7-10-12 Josh Gifford Declan Murphy 15/2 4
1990* NEW HALEN 9-09-12 Paul James Eamon Tierney 7/4 5
1990* PADDYBORO 12-11-13 Josh Gifford Richard Rowe 4/1 6
