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Grand Crus more likely to go for the GC acc to racing post today
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Perhaps I'm just being stubboren but not inclined to give up on First Lieutenant for RSA just yet... hard to get the image of his Festival win last March out of my head.
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Trainer hasn't given up
First Lieutenant will head straight for the RSA Chase at Cheltenham in March following his second to Last Instalment at Leopardstown on Wednesday. The six-year-old is already a Festival winner having won last season's Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle, leaving trainer Mouse Morris excited about what the chestnut could achieve over fences. His novice chase campaign has not gone exactly to plan so far as although he has won twice, he has now been beaten three times and was pulled up on his penultimate start in the Drinmore Novice Chase at Fairyhouse. Stepping up to three miles for the first time and encountering better ground for the first time this season, First Lieutenant was a slightly unlucky second in Wednesday's Fort Leney Novice Chase and Morris feels it is far too early to write off his stable star. "He's great this morning and considering what happened the time before at Fairyhouse, I was pleased with his run," said Morris. "He made a mistake at the second last which didn't help. I'm not saying he'd have won, but he'd have finished a good bit closer. He just got in a bit close to the fence. "Apart from that one mistake I thought he jumped super and the more times I watch the replay, the more pleased I am. He really attacked his fences yesterday, which he hadn't been doing as much before. "The better ground obviously helped him so we'll give him a break now and go straight to Cheltenham for the RSA Chase. "We know he likes the track as he won at the Festival last season, when he got better as the season went on. Hopefully he does the same again. "He's 20-1 for the RSA and I wouldn't put anyone off backing him at that price. We might have lost the battle, but we haven't lost the war yet." |
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reaseheath you are right not to give up on first leiutenant have watched his last race closely on replays and think it was a cracking run, after travelling like the class horse he undoubtably is, i didnt notice this at first and its not been picked up by the race comments but he seemed to get hamperered or run into the back of another horse on the home turn and lost a bit of momentum, and then made a mistake at the 2nd last but ran on really strongly at the finish , him getting beat has helped as he has drifted out to 20s in the shops i have helped myself to this and will be going in again hopefully ladcrooks will go nrnb on all cheltenham races shortly.
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On as well. Fantastic e/w bet at 20's
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with grands crus looking a strong possibility of taking the gold cup route and after reading m.morris comments ( thanks to g.mac ) the 20s available on first leiutenant , look very generous indeed ,time to top up .
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Sonofvic goin back over hurdles for the rest of the year
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After jumping and running so disappointingly at Cheltenham on New Year's Day, we have decided to send Sonofvic back over hurdles for the rest of the season.
He ran a great race first time up over fences when second to Grands Crus at Newbury, but Monday told us that he needs more time and experience, and he clearly isn't a Sun Alliance horse on that form. So we will keep him as a novice over fences for next season. With more experience and runs under his belt, he will be fine. He is only very lightly-raced, winning both his hurdles last season, and the plan is for him to maybe have three more runs this season, possibly starting in a handicap hurdle at Sandown on February 4. He is currently rated 141 over hurdles. |
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Foyleswar - Well after also watching the race over at Leopardstown I agree First Lieutenant was a shade unlucky. My main reservations lie with how good do you rate the form?? I just cannot get the average looking Allee Garde out of my head and really not sure how good the Irish staying Novices are.
For me although FL always looked like making up into a top class chaser after what he achieved as a Novice Hurdler I just haven't seen much progression from him. His run against De Valira is just average form and he made such hard work of it, he then just beat the average Stephanie Kate and although Cross Appeal has won a decent handicap since the other horses again just look average. I have no doubts Morris will get the freshness back into the horse by the festival. My main worry is how much he will improve because in a vintage year for staying Novices he is well down the pecking order. I think he is still a horse I respect and his jumping was good at Leopardstown but he seemed to just stay on at the same pace and had to work incredibly hard to overhaul the average looking Allee Garde on the run in. I think I will have a couple of quid saver on him at the 20's as am already involved as think he is to bigger price but just feel his form is plateauing. I maybe wrong but he has just disappointed me and it would surprise me if he were good enough. Its a shame but that is the way I see it. Last Installment is also way to short for this at around 7-1 mark on what he has achieved. |
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good points harry ..i was a little dissapointed with him in his earlier races this season as his jumping was a little deliberate and to be honest i was half expecting him to be more deliberate and cautios after the bad blunder he made in bog warriors race where he was pulled up ,but it looked like he may have learned something from it , in his last race when 2nd to last instalment he jumped much better as the race progressed although he did make a mistake at the 2nd last but all in all his jumping was better ,also the better ground helped and as for not progressing as expected hopefully m.morris is just bringing him along slowly gaining vital expierience over fences the last few winners of the rsa chase had at least 4 runs over fences so expierience of fences is usefull .i may have got this all wrong but morris enthusiasm for the horse inspires confidence and he has the vital previous cheltenham festival form so all in all a good few positives and i am happy with the 20s good luck with whatever you go with .
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His last run was very decent given his 'traumatic' experience from just a few weeks before
Mouse knows how to get him ready and i'm sure he will, he has all the necessary qualities required of an RSA horse imo Whether he's good enough remains to be seen, but he'll stay, he battles, he'll like the ground and we know he goes on the course |
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Been disappointed with his jumping tbh. May be the ground is a reason but for me he looks likely to make a couple of bad mistakes.
Last Instalment on the other hand has jumped impeccably each race and smashed FL 6 lengths lto. If you think Mouse Morrise is confident about his horse, then you should hear Philip Fenton aswell. I took 12/1 after his G1 win lto, but no idea if he will run. Gigginshouse like the RSA and have saddled several runners in recent years, Weapons Amnesty,Magnanimity etc. But you just wonder if they will run both horses. |
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Sintonian think they will defo run both...I totally agree foyles he jumped better last time just got a nagging feeling the race fell in last Instalments lap and he was definitely flattered to win how he did..I wish the mullins horse who fell had stood up...as I would know more..
You must be a trends man foyles as First Lieutenant would be in the group you would want to be. I agree and you can forgive him but just not sure how or what the form is worth... I don't like to be biased and big up the ones I have backed to often but I certainly won't be getting involved in the Irish staying Novices I have seen...but will have a saver on First Lieutenant as think he ran better and jumped better the last day than the bare result suggests also he had had a bad experience in the Drinmore...he will do better but he will have to show massive improvement to get involved in this years RSA imho.. |
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as you can tell harry im really keen on him ive already backed him at 20s each way at lads nrnb and went in again tonight and will probably go in again at 20s e/w , we know he has a lot of ability if you take his neptune form over 2.5 m beat rock on ruby ,so young, oscars well ect, cant remember who was 3rd but that hurdles form is solid and he looked as though 3miles + would suit ,if he can translate the hurdles form to chase form (and he looks more a chaser ) he surely wont be far away given luck in running of course !
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Laddies aren't NRNB on this race fella :(
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Well be lucky pal he is a fair 20-1 shot
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sorry martin getting confused backed oscars well different thread nrnb with lads my apologies!
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"First Lieutenant ran well over Christmas. Mouse (Morris) likes to run his horses at Christmas and go straight to Cheltenham, so that is what First Lieutenant will do all being well. His next race will be the RSA Chase"
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At the weekend, the most significant move came for the Nicky Henderson-trained Bobs Worth, who shortened to 5-1 (from
6-1) for the RSA Chase, even though he had been beaten five and a quarter lengths by Grands Crus in the Feltham Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day. And there was a reason. Henderson explained:“Barry [Geraghty] was suspicious of his breathing at Kempton. “We scoped him but found nothing. We made a small adjustment to his soft palate and he is back cantering.” |