Bottlegreen Novices' Limited Handicap Chase
Class 3, Cheltenham 13:45
£30,000 guaranteed,
4yo plus,
2m 4f 44y 
Sunday 16th November 2025

FormRatings

1 Kdeux Saint Fray 13/2
2 Kim Roque 7/2
3 Jig's Forge 3/1
6 ran NR: Aspire Tower, Jax Junior, Rockstown Girl
Distances: 3l, hd, 4¼l Time: 5m 15.79s (slow by 14.79s)

Anthony Honeyball endured the full sweep of emotions as Kdeux Saint Fray broke his duck over fences at the second attemp — a result that came tinged with what-might-have-been for the yard.

For just as the race was shaping into a proper two-pronged assault from the Honeyball team, 11/4 favourite Jordans Cross came down with a thump at the last under Ben Godfrey, right at the moment he looked poised to lay down his challenge. What might have been a stable one-two quickly turned into a bittersweet success, though there was still satisfaction in seeing Kdeux Saint Fray put matters right after his earlier mishap at the track.

Even with the advantage handed to him after the final-fence drama, the 13/2 shot still had to knuckle down on the climb to the line, seeing off Kim Roque — who herself pecked on landing — by three lengths.

Honeyball said: “It could have been tough either way, but I would have rather had the problem of finishing first and second. I think Jordans Cross would have been bang there with the winner coming home. You don’t want to happen to either of them, but Kdeux Saint Fray had a nasty little fall here last time so it is quite nice he didn’t have that happen to him. He has had a really good experience and he has jumped great today.

“There were a few he was a little bit to the left here and there, and a few he dived at here and there, but basically he jumped like we thought he could today. He really enjoyed himself and handled the ground. He is a nice horse going forward.”

Casting back to Jordans Cross, he added that recent memories coloured expectations: “It is hard to get recent memories out of your mind and seeing what Jordans Cross do what he did (at Aintree) and the fact we have just ticked him over since Aintree where he zoomed through and the way he did that I thought he would be better over two and a half miles. But I was a bit worried about him over two and a half miles and on the ground. He probably didn’t love the ground as much as he was a bit more on and off it, but when he needed to be on it he came through.

“Ben (Godfrey) probably wasn’t going well enough to wheel around the outside, so he kept down the inner. He jumped the last landing on the worst of the ground, but at the same time he jumped it well. He actually jumped the last better than the winner.

“They are lovely young horses that are both five-year-olds.”

As for Jordans Cross himself, Honeyball was hopeful the damage was minimal.

He added: “He seems fine. Whether he has got a few nicks, we will see what they say. He just crumpled at the last and he could have easily caught himself doing that so we will see.”

Cheltenham Novices' Limited Handicap Chase
£30,000 guaranteed, 4yo plus, 2m 4f 44y, Class 3
6 ran
Going: Soft

POS. DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1    Kdeux Saint Fray 5 10-5 Anthony Honeyball Jonathan Burke 13/2
2 3 Kim Roque 5 10-5 1 Joseph O'Brien Richard Deegan 7/2
3 hd Jig's Forge 6 11-0 Ben Pauling Ben Jones 3/1
4 4¼ El Champo 7 10-7 P J Rothwell Tiernan Power Roche 22/1
5 6½ Queensbury Boy 6 10-13 Mickey Bowen James Bowen 4/1
FELL Jordans Cross 5 10-8 Anthony Honeyball Ben Godfrey 11/4F
NR 2 Jax Junior 6 11-4 Lucy Wadham NON-RUNNER
NR 9 Rockstown Girl 7 10-5 Anthony McCann NON RUNNER
NR 1 Aspire Tower 9 11-10 Jennie Candlish NON RUNNER

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