Also know as The Spa Novices Hurdle, the staying hurdle race for novices at the festival is often mocked as being a race for plodders, but one look at the roll of honour of its short history reveals that the race has been won by some very, very talented horses - At Fishers Cross, Brindisi Breeze (RIP, for me the most breathtaking winner of the race), Gold Cup hero Bobs Worth and subsequent RSA Chase winner Weapon's Amnesty, who would surely have been a major Gold Cup contender had injury not decimated his career.
The race is run on the Friday of the festival immediately before the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which somehow seems fitting as the majority of runners will ultimately have been bred and purchased with the Blue Riband event in mind.
As with the other novice hurdles at the festival, it is very difficult at this early stage of the season to identify which horses are likely to run where, and the betting as of October 20th reflects this - those at the head of the market could just as easily run in the Supreme or Neptune. Here the current prices from Bet365:
Briar Hill 10
Oscar Rock 14
Faugheen 16
Kings Palace 16
Tiger Cliff 16
Moyle Park 20
Blackmail 20
Outlander 20
Regal Encore 20
25-1 Bar
One horse who already put his credentials on this line yesterday (October 19th) is Kings Palace, who routed a decent looking field in tremendous style over track and trip and looked every inch a horse who could go close in the big one. A slick, fluent hurdler with a big engine and high cruising speed, for me it was greenness rather than tiredness which caused him to wander around a bit coming up the hill, but he still won going away by 18 lengths and looks a serious contender for this.
But it is early days and there are a lot of races to be run between now and the big day, on both sides of the Irish Sea.
The race is run on the Friday of the festival immediately before the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which somehow seems fitting as the majority of runners will ultimately have been bred and purchased with the Blue Riband event in mind.
As with the other novice hurdles at the festival, it is very difficult at this early stage of the season to identify which horses are likely to run where, and the betting as of October 20th reflects this - those at the head of the market could just as easily run in the Supreme or Neptune. Here the current prices from Bet365:
Briar Hill 10
Oscar Rock 14
Faugheen 16
Kings Palace 16
Tiger Cliff 16
Moyle Park 20
Blackmail 20
Outlander 20
Regal Encore 20
25-1 Bar
One horse who already put his credentials on this line yesterday (October 19th) is Kings Palace, who routed a decent looking field in tremendous style over track and trip and looked every inch a horse who could go close in the big one. A slick, fluent hurdler with a big engine and high cruising speed, for me it was greenness rather than tiredness which caused him to wander around a bit coming up the hill, but he still won going away by 18 lengths and looks a serious contender for this.
But it is early days and there are a lot of races to be run between now and the big day, on both sides of the Irish Sea.
