Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle
Cheltenham 15:30
(Registered As The Hyde Novices' Hurdle),
£80,000 guaranteed, 4yo plus,
2m 5f 26y, Class 1  
Friday 14th November 2025

1 No Drama This End 5/1
2 Heads Up 7/4F
3 King's Bucks 12/1
9 ran NR: Fountains Blenhein
Distances: 3l, hd, 2¾l Time: 5m 26.37s (slow by 22.37s)

Dan Skelton’s L’Eau Du Sud turn this into something of a one-horse spectacle, striding up the Cheltenham hill as though the rest had suddenly hit treacle, leaving the hat-trick-seeking Jonbon well adrift.

In the teeth of the wind and rain, it was immediately clear this was no place for faint hearts. Matata, Jonbon and the winner locked horns from flagfall, none willing to concede an inch, each pressing the tempo as if determined to expose any weakness in the others.

On another day that sort of pace could have set it up for a late closer, but Libberty Hunter departed early and Edwardstone never really landed a blow, leaving the principals to slug it out.

Harry Skelton, aboard the eventual 100-30 winner, allowed L’Eau Du Sud to cruise up alongside as though flicking the horse a gentle reminder of just how well he was travelling. A couple of sticky leaps from Jonbon were enough to tilt the balance, and suddenly he was the one being asked the questions.

Sweeping down the hill, Skelton allowed himself a long, almost leisurely glance behind, though in the murk it may have been difficult to spot Jonbon anyway, such was the margin that had opened up.

Turning for home, L’Eau Du Sud breezed past Matata without ceremony and sauntered on, the race long since settled. JJ Slevin performed small miracles to stay in the plate after Matata’s blunder at the last, but the error cost him second, leaving Jonbon to preserve his unblemished record of finishing in the first two – albeit 15 lengths back.

Dan Skelton said: “Maybe the conditions have made him look really good today, but we got him ready for today as we needed to know where he stands. Whether he got beat by Jonbon or not we were hopeful today was a career best, and it was.

“I was hoping we could take the step forward, but you can never be sure. Looking at today he’s clearly improved.

“I’m not very proud of myself for running at Warwick in the Kingmaker before the Arkle as it took a lot out of him and that’s why he wasn’t at his best at Cheltenham. I didn’t want to say it at the time as it would have sounded like an excuse, but that’s in the past and hopefully we can make it up now.

“I’m not afraid of running novices and they have to go out and run to learn what to do. Maybe those defeats in the spring have helped turn him into the man he has become today and of course there are positives to it all.

“We’ll look forward to the future now with a real good two-miler now. He’ll go straight to the Tingle Creek and maybe after last year straight to the Champion Chase. I wouldn’t leave the door completely shut on the Clarence House at Ascot, but he’s had a harder race than it looked today because that ground is pretty hard work.”

He added: “It was probably hard to foresee that and I thought we could win but we needed an under-performance from Jonbon and I think that’s what we saw, he didn’t travel like him. He’s not getting any younger and I think you’ll see a different Jonbon at Sandown now he’s blown the cobwebs away.

“Last year he had two runs before he went to Sandown and this year he will only have one but let’s see.”

Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle
(Registered As The Hyde Novices' Hurdle) (Grade 2)
£55,000 guaranteed, 4yo plus, 2m 5f 26y, Class 1
9 ran
Going: Soft

POS. DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1     No Drama This End 5 11-2 Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden
2 3 Heads Up 5 11-2 John C McConnell Mark McDonagh
3 hd King's Bucks 5 11-2 Henry De Bromhead Darragh O'Keeffe
4 2¾ Destination Dubai 6 11-2 David Killahena & Graeme McPherson Kielan Woods
5 1¼ Moneygarrow 5 11-2 Dan Skelton Tristan Durrell
6 39 Great Fleet 5 11-2 Dan Skelton Harry Skelton
7 1¼ Imperfectlyperfect 5 11-2 Lucinda Russell & Michael Scudamore Derek Fox
8 15 Intosomethinggood 4 11-1 Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies Sam Twiston-Davies
PU Welonlyhavedone 5 11-2 Gavin Cromwell Keith Donoghue
NR 2 Fountains Blenhein 6 11-2 Anthony Honeyball NON RUNNER

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