Talented trio in fine form and heading for The Festival

A trio of hunter chasers who passed big tests last week have been given the thumbs up by their point-to-point trainers to run at next month’s Cheltenham Festival.

Latenightpass and Highway Jewel (pictured above) who finished first and second in Warwick’s Willoughby De Broke Hunters’ Chase, and Porlock Bay, who was narrowly beaten in Wincanton’s Stewart Tory Memorial Hunters’ Chase, are all said to be in great heart. They are expected to line up in the St James’s Place Open Hunters’ Chase, formerly titled the Foxhunter Chase.

Warwick winner Latenightpass was bred and is owned by Pip Ellis, whose son Tom is the trainer. He said: “Mum couldn’t go to the meeting [which took place ‘behind closed doors’], and in any case she reasoned it was better to stay at home and not watch the race than go to Warwick and not watch the race – especially with that horse. She was worried about the ground for him, but little horses can often get through soft ground. He’s definitely little at about 15.2hh, but he jumps like a stag.

“He’s been buzzing since the race as if he can’t wait for another go. He’d stopped blowing by the time he got back to the racecourse stables, and while I knew I had him fit I hope there is still a bit to work on.

“He’s now run in two hunter chases and won them both, so he deserves to go to Cheltenham. Bridget [Andrews, his sister-in-law] will be offered the ride if Gina isn’t allowed.”

As an amateur rider Ellis’s wife Gina Andrews is currently unable to participate in races under Rules due to restrictions on non-elite sportsmen and women. That bar is no less galling for the trainers of Highway Jewel and Porlock Bay – Bradley Gibbs and Will Biddick – who would have ridden their horses at Cheltenham.

Gibbs said: “I’m absolutely gutted at the thought of missing out because I’ve never been involved in a horse good enough to go to the Festival. Now I’ve got one I cannot ride her.” Of Highway Jewel he said: “She was as fresh as a daisy after her run, but she’s always the same. She’s tough.

“She was a little bit slow out the gate, and because they go that bit quicker in hunter chases she was flat out to get into contention, but we learned that she doesn’t have to go from the front. It was the first time she had really come under pressure and been off the bridle, and yet she jumped well. She was a little slow over the first couple and then she was fine.

“We know the winner is a nice horse and The World’s End [who finished third] won a grade one hurdle just over a year ago, so to split them was a great effort. She’ll go straight to Cheltenham now.”

Biddick said of Porlock Bay, who finished runner-up to the Paul Nicholls-trained Sametegal at Wincanton: “We walked him to the river the day after his run and he marched out as if he’d won the race. He obviously stays, and the race fell just right because we didn’t want to run too close to Cheltenham.

“I know Wincanton isn’t undulating like Cheltenham, but he stayed three miles and a furlong on heavy ground, and ran right through the line. He’s got that bit of class and the pace for races over two and a half miles, and he’s not a slow three miler. If he had finished fourth and qualified for Cheltenham, but didn’t look class enough, he wouldn’t be going. There’s no point making up the numbers and ruining your chance of winning other races.”

Biddick rode Porlock Bay when he won at Kimble in November (pictured above), but he is sanguine on the prospects of missing out at Cheltenham. He said: “It’s a completely different feeling being the trainer. I don’t get nervous when riding, and if something goes wrong you hand the horse back and get ready for the next ride, but when I’m the trainer I pace around like a jack in the box.

“Lorcan [Williams] did a good job and will get the ride if he wants it, and the owner is happy, so we’re heading to Cheltenham.”