Montbazon - Supreme Novices.

Why do you think good ground is Nailed on ?? I hope your right.

Fair shout Sintonian...in an open year for the Supreme he certainly won't look out of place...I have to say I haven't backed it as am convinced the horse just wants a bit further...but he didn't look in love with the ground at Newbury and the winner certainly was...he can only improve plenty and I know reading Kings page he thinks the world of the horse...In a normal stampede in the supreme on better ground the stamina will come into play and he won't be found wanting in that department...I don't know when we will see him next but I would say he had a hard race at Newbury on that ground and just the one more run before taking in the supreme will be the order of the day...he is certainly a long term project.

wasnt he beaten by sous les cieux? and SLC was well beaten over xmas, improvement surely to be made tho

I've never been a King fan but think he's done well this season and, although he's probably slightly over rated the horse, I liked his Newbury run and also think Cheltenham on better ground will be ideal and 20-1 a good price which I'll be taking if still around this morning as nothing has really stood out this year.

This quote is 4 weeks old.


Turning his attention to Montbazon, who ran a super first race over hurdles to be beaten only a length by the more-experienced Colour Squadron, Alan added:“I knew that Montbazon was too good a mover to enjoy that ground, but I needed to get him going over hurdles.
     “He has done plenty of work since that bumper at Cheltenham, and, like all my bumper horses, he has been schooling for two seasons. He has probably jumped 200 hurdles at home, so we never have any worries on that score.
     “Our horses were not firing in the autumn and he also came back from Cheltenham with sore shins, so I have to be well satisfied.
     “The first two have pulled 19 lengths clear of Ericht, who had solid form, and the time was also very good, so now we can build on this. Montbazon has so much speed that he will be much better on good ground, and we will look for something in the new year.”

Cant make my mind up about this one. Keep thinking about backing him but then stop myself. Cant get out of my head that Steps to Freedom beat him a bit more easily than a couple of lenghts suggests, giving him 6lb, at Aintree. He has proved that he hurdles very well, so takes a but of a leap of faith to think that Montbazon has improved past him for me.

Also, although it was Montbazon's hurding debut, he'd already had a run in a bumper to put him spot on for the race against Colour Squadron. If we accept that PW didnt run his race in the Tolworth, its hard to equate the form.

I think thie form line between these two is the best in the race though, and think they will both be in the shake up. But I'd still favour Steps to Freedom.

Montbazon ? No idea. Could go for the Neptune aswell I suppose. But that is the chance we take with ante-post innit.

I like this one Sint, it is half in my mind that he may be a flat track horse, though i do not base that on his bumper run at Cheltenham. I think that run can be safely ignored in terms of the horse's ability, i'd be more inclined to put that down to stable form and lack of fitness more than anything. Amazing looking horse.

I've just watched a recording of his Newbury  run and was even more impressed than I was at the time. He never came off the bridle until 10 strides before the last and that cruising speed will stand him in good stead in The Supreme. King said he'd go no further than 2 miles this season in One Jump Ahead and surely he has only one target preceded by the trainer's favourite route of The Dovecote first.

I admit to not always being the trainer's biggest fan but his Weekender column has been very accurate and he's been in decent form all season. I just think the horse may not have truly stayed in bumpers but over hurdles with a year's maturing I think he'll see out the 2 miles no problem and should be on the bridle 2 out.

Agree with that Booster / Sint. Exciting times now!

As I've backed him at 20-1 I've just had a look at the videos of his runs and strikes me that they've always held him in very high regard as he's always hard held 2 out but just not quite seeing it out or possible being disappointed at not being able to stride out. In his next race I wouldn't be surprised if they kick on 2 out and let him use the speed he appears to have at that time to try and win his race. His form certainly ties in well with some high class horses and you could argue he may have beaten Cheltenian at Kempton first time up last season if he'd not been hampered.

There is a 2m novice hurdle next Wed 25th at Hereford and at Fontwell and Doncaster on Fri 27th (Doncaster would surely be more likely, given he has run there and it has som similarity to Newbury). The novices at Doncaster and Cheltenham on the Sat are over further and Fos Las stage one on 29th.

Alan, who has pencilled in our highly-rated novice Montbazon for either Huntingdon on Friday or Plumpton next week



Form AK site

Kings gone for that before,more than once i believe.
VPU springs to mind.

This exciting bonus initiative, sponsored by horse racing broadcasters SIS, offers the connections of a horse that wins one of six nominated Novices CHASES at Plumpton the opportunity to scoop the valuable £60,000 cash bonus if it goes on to win any steeple chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March. It was last won by Voy Por Ustedes who won at Plumpton before going onto triumph in the Arkle Chase.

Yer right Sint,thats from the Plumpton website mate.

A canter around tomorrow at Plumpton 1/10 sp????

I thought it odd they would want to keep such a good horse as a Noivce anyway tbh. This horse COULD turn into a CH contender so no idea why they'd want to keep him a novice.

Hopefully and most likely he'll have another run after today.

Well he's just run 6 weeks before the Festival and won....

Unfortunately he won as a 1/10 shot should so I'm none the wiser, except his jumping wasn't all that fluent.

Lost your point there Cuth. He's just done exactly what you said the average winner does, 6 weeks and won lto.

Anyway, today was more experience for him. The third last he collided mid-air with the horse on his right but other than that he jumped fine. The form amounts to nothing as it was a poor race, but more than anything this was about experience, as he has not run for 47 days and is bound to improve for it.

One more run against better opposition next time out i'd imagine.