TimeformBlog

Timeform look back at the weekend's action at Cheltenham...


Chetenham's New Year's Day meeting was the undoubted highlight this weekend and the best performance there in terms of form, as well as the one with the most significant implications for the Festival in just over three months time, was that of Oscar Whisky in the two-and-a-half mile minor hurdle.

Oscar Whisky enjoyed a good novice campaign last season, finishing fourth in the Supreme on his final outing, but he was much improved on Saturday, producing a performance not far off high-class in barely coming off the bridle to beat Any Given Day by seven lengths. Oscar Whisky's performance puts him firmly in the discussion for the Champion Hurdle, and he is now a 17.0 shot for that race, having already been matched for plenty of money at three-figure odds. He reportedly heads next to Ffos Las for the Welsh Champion Hurdle.

The day's most valuable event at Cheltenham was the two-mile-five-furlong handicap chase which went the way of Tartak, who showed a good attitude to reel in the reliable mare Carole's Legacy. Tartak had hinted at temperament on his reappearance at Aintree, but there has been no evidence of that whatsoever since a tongue tie has been applied on his two most recent starts, and he should continue to run well, either in handicaps or returned to graded company.

There were a couple of other notable handicap performances at Cheltenham, notably the ones produced by Ashkazar, who led home a David Pipe 1-2-3 in the three-mile handicap hurdle, and one-time high-class hurdler Blazing Bailey, who produced easily his best performance over fences when winning the staying chase on the card.

The Grade 2 Dipper Novices' Chase looked likely to be one of the more informative such events run so far this season, and it went the way of Hell's Bay, who has proved a real credit to Colin Tizzard so far this season. Hell's Bay has a variety of Festival options, namely the RSA Chase, the novices' handicap formerly known as the Jewson, or the race now known as the Jewson. Hell's Bay's performance paid a major compliment to two of the horses that have beaten him this season, namely Finian's Rainbow (8.8 second-favourite for the Arkle) and Time For Rupert (4.0 favourite for the RSA Chase).

The only novice hurdle on the card was won by the Nicky Henderson-trained Bobs Worth, who enters Festival calculations (25.0 shot for the Baring Bingham), while the concluding bumper went the way of Roger Charlton's Keys, who is now just 15.0 for the Champion Bumper in March.



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