Maxwell picks Shantou Flyer for St James’s Place Foxhunter Chase

David Maxwell expects to ride Shantou Flyer in the St James’s Place Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham, rather than Sunday’s Fontwell hunters’ chase winner Bob And Co.

The last-named gained qualification for the Festival when beating stablemate Alcala, whose second-place finish was enough to ensure he too could be in the line-up should trainer Paul Nicholls opt for that target. The Nicholls’ pair, plus the Sarah Easterby-trained and ridden Black River, who won a mixed open race at Duncombe Park in Yorkshire on Saturday and is said to be a Grimthorpe Gold Cup candidate, were the final horses to qualify for Cheltenham before Sunday evening’s deadline.

However, Maxwell (pictured above) says his ride in the St James’s Place Foxhunter Chase is likely to be the Rose Loxton-trained Shantou Flyer, who was second to Hazel Hill in the race last year, and who won at Fakenham two weeks ago. Of Bob And Co, Maxwell says: “He’s a nice horse, not the most straightforward ride, but I’m thinking of running him at Aintree [in the Randox Health Fox Hunters’ Chase] rather than Cheltenham.

“I don’t think he wants three and a quarter miles and he jumps better off a stronger pace. The shorter trip at Aintree should suit him, and he’s been around Auteuil. If they can jump around Auteuil, which has a couple of small fences, and a couple of monsters, they can jump around anywhere. He’s a very good jumper, and I just hope he doesn’t get over-bold.”

Maxwell’s first ride on Bob And Co in a Warwick hunters’ chase ended ingloriously when the horse appeared to take control and ran out when in a healthy lead. The rider says: “That was just a symptom of trying to hold a horse – he wasn’t out of control. I lost a stirrup, and when I got it back I couldn’t get my leg to straighten, so I had nothing to hold him with.

“It often takes a few rides to get to know a horse and to get the hang of them, and with this one I’ve learned you cannot have a pulling match.”

Of Shantou Flyer, Maxwell says: “I think he’s improved. If you had asked me before Fakenham whether I would go back to Cheltenham to take on Hazel Hill I would have said ‘no chance’, but he felt like a different horse and jumped really well. Rose is very good with these jaded older horses who have talent, and Rose gets it out of them.

“We are very lucky in point-to-pointing to have so many brilliant stock people, who really understand horses.”

Loxton also trains multiple winner Monsieur Gibraltar for Maxwell, who reveals: “He’s had a wind op since his last run in a point-to-point, and now we’re just waiting for some drier weather, because he wouldn’t want this very soft ground. I absolutely love him, he’s a machine who knows so much about the job. With half a mile to go he gives me a little tug as if to say ‘C’mon then, let’s get on with it’.”