Won’t be around of the morrow but after all the chat about horses incredibly well handicapped in one sphere (Broadway Dreams over hurdles, in my mind, remains the absolute standout re this discussion) I see Mr Nicholls ditches timber for Cliffs of Dover and runs him on the level, at Lingfield Park (5.00) tomorrow, with the daughter up.
Cliffs of Dover was perched on 145 prior to his return to hurdling, last month, but tomorrow races off just 64 on the all-weather. Since he last ran on the flat, for Barrington’s boy, Cliffs Of Dover has won 6 out of 8 (including at Listed and Grade 2 level) in the NH sphere and looks a totally different animal to the one who’s flat formline reads -506535.
Now admittedly some horses just don’t function on the level and are far superior over obstacles but given the improvement shown since at Ditcheat you would have to expect even if that is the case Cliffs of Dover should be able to exploit such a low ranking. What Cliffs of Dover is though is bred for the flat as his dam was a winner in that sphere and his grand-dam a Group 2 winner. Plus Cliffs of Dover’s half-brother won 3 races for that terrible old rogue, Sir Mark Prescott.
The bigger worry would be that he has returned to training (following the injury that kept him off the track for 14 months) not the same animal as he was – i.e. he’s regressed.
But if connections are going to aim him at the big handicaps later in the term (such as the ‘Ascot Stakes’ and ‘Ces’) then they are going to need a significant hike in the weights for Cliffs of Dover to qualify for them. Would expect to see this climb through up the perches to begin after the Lingers race of the morrow.
At the time of writing there are no quotes (and ultimately I wouldn’t be surprised to see something short enough to mean ‘no bet’) but SkySports are forecasting 11/8.
