Fundamentalist - Lingfield frustration (Getty Images).
FUNDAMENTALIST FRUSTRATIONS
By Carl Llewellyn
Macs Joy is coming to a peak for the Champion Hurdle at the right time after his win at Gowran Park on Saturday. He did not have a great deal to beat but did it well with a good, workmanlike performance. He hit the front plenty soon enough as some of his best form has been when he has been held up a little bit longer. I am sure that connections will have been very pleased with the result. Jessica Harrington's horses have been under a cloud this season but have been doing well in recent weeks and Macs Joy is certainly going in the right direction at the right time. Over at Lingfield, Our Vic won the Ascot Chase. He won first-time-out at Cheltenham but then went back there soon enough and disappointed. He was beaten very early on that day so I would be inclined to disregard that performance. He is obviously a very good horse when fresh but does not seem to take his racing too well. There is enough time now between Lingfield and Cheltenham for him to be back to his best though. I think that the Gold Cup is a reasonable option for him at the Festival. Basically it is a sub-standard year and with a horse like Beef Or Salmon as favourite, Our Vic could give him a real run for his money if he was in top form. I was on board Fundamentalist in the race and he unfortunately came down. Timmy Murphy on Our Vic seemed to come off a straight line and did not leave me much room. That could well have made my horse take his eye off the fence a little bit. It was a shame as he felt in much better form than he did first time this season at Wetherby - in fact the form he was in when winning races a couple of years ago. I was very disappointed as we could not get a decent run into him and have not found out enough about what we are to do with him at Cheltenham. He has come out of the race okay with no knocks from the fall - so now do we go for the Gold Cup or Champion Chase? Things are up in the air really. Nigel (Twiston-Davies) was toying with the idea of trying to find another race for him before the Festival and I don't know whether he has spotted one. But as time goes on we are getting closer and closer to the big day and he would not want a really hard race two of three weeks prior to Cheltenham. The ground was a bit better at Wincanton than other places over the weekend and Voy Por Ustedes jumped very well in the novice chase. He won with plenty of authority and connections quite rightly should think he has a great chance in the Arkle. He seems to be a well-balanced horse and travels very well and that is exactly what you want for Cheltenham. Briareus had only won a couple of small races before winning the Kingwell Hurdle but he did it well against some okay horses. He will go up a bit in the weights for that obviously but I still think he'd be a stone behind the main Champion Hurdle contenders. He is a young horse and entitled to improve but will have to if he is to figure at the Festival. I was on board Snakebite at Lingfield and we took a chance with him on the heavy ground. He needs really good going but there is none around at the moment and we wanted to get another run into him. But he ran well with a penalty and to be fair was only beaten by a horse (Zipalong Lad) that really loved the conditions. We may find out that it was a very good run to finish second - I was initially disappointed but on reflection it may not have been too bad on ground he did not like. I won on Ardaghey at Towcester on Sunday and was very impressed with him. He actually quickened up the hill from the third last to get away from his rivals - which is very unusual at that track. However there is just a worry about going to Cheltenham on faster ground and a different kind of track. He has probably earned his place in the Royal & SunAlliance Chase if connections wanted to go that way. He won with a bit in hand and I never had to move on him. If it came up soft at Cheltenham he could well have a live outside chance.
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