Brilliant day for Dan Skelton with the only exception being the one tailed off in the Lanzarote but I am sure that come March that one will recapture his form too.
Did you see anything meaningful yesterday in the Qualifier with a view to the Final??? My answer would be most likely no but I guess if you had to take one from the race it would be the runner-up, Kyntara, who up until the last flight had looked the best horse in the race at every point of the contest. Will most probably get in the Final (last years bottom weight at the Festival was on 121 - due to there being a lot less eligible horses these days. 1-2-3-4 only and all that...) but you would expect several to be too good, at the Festival, for the 8YO in my opinion. Interestingly Kyntara's half-brother, Kintail, is at Seven Barrows (same ownership, 3 years younger).
Agree re Kyntara - I thought he would hack up but fair play to J'ai Froid. The betting for the Pertemps Final is a little bit confused by the fact that the current fav in some books (Absolute Notions) hasn't even qualified yet. Icare Allen will go very close if the British Handicapper is not too hard on him - the same applies to Foxy Jacks who was very eye-catching in finishing 4th at Leopardstown off 123 (since upped to 125 and won a handicap chase at Cheltenham off 149 in November). I think Emitom has a potentially decent mark and will probably be kept fresh for the final now. Still 6 qualifiers to go - the next at Huntingdon on 25th Jan.
Yes, would agree totally with what you say about the betting. Also, somewhat shamefully, Oddschecker shows 3 bookmakers still quoting North Lodge - when he has a tendon injury and is out for the season (probably won't run again until 2025 or the backend of '24 at the earliest). I really hope that the remaining Qualifiers manage to breath some life into the Series as, right now in my opinion, things are looking most unclear and, to be honest, a bit underwhelming.
