Planters Punch heads to Cheltenham on Friday with a perfect record and a big reputation to uphold. Nicky Henderson‘s four-year-old is the 7/4 favourite for the Grade 2 Oddschecker Novices’ Hurdle at 3pm, the feature on the opening day of the Showcase meeting, ahead of Dan Skelton’s Cooltobecareless and Bill Durkan’s Golden Handshake.
Here is everything you need to know about the unbeaten novice before Friday.
His record so far
Planters Punch spent last season in junior ‘National Hunt’ hurdles and won all three of his starts. He made a winning debut at Hereford in November, but he had to work for it, wandering on the approach to the last before staying on to beat Aqua Bleu by three-quarters of a length at 9/4.
He was a different proposition on his return in the spring. At Bangor in March, he went clear going easily after two out and, despite a blunder at the last, won by 15 lengths at 13/8. He followed up at Chepstow 11 days later as a 4/9 shot, asserting before the last to beat Mistral St Georges by seven lengths, and that performance took his official rating to 128.
The Henderson factor
Few trainers know how to handle a top-class two-mile novice like Henderson. He has won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle four times since 2010, with Altior in 2016, Shishkin in 2020, Constitution Hill in 2022 and Old Park Star last March, and he has saddled five runners-up in that time, including Jonbon and My Tent Or Yours.
His record in this race is more modest, with one winner from three runners. However, that winner was Altior, who took the race under Nico de Boinville in 2015 before going on to Supreme glory. De Boinville rode Planters Punch to his first two wins and keeps the ride on Friday. Dame De Compagnie (fifth at 10/11 in 2017) and Iberico Lord (sixth at 7/2 in 2022) both came up short.
What happened to previous winners
The Sharp Novices’ Hurdle, which moved from Cheltenham’s November meeting to the Showcase in 2023, has a mixed record as a springboard. Of the last 11 winners, Altior is the only one to go on and land the Supreme, and Elixir De Nutz is the only other to win a Grade 1 that season, taking the Tolworth at Sandown in January 2019.
Others have found life tougher. Lookaway was second in the Challow and third at Aintree, while For Pleasure ran into third in the Supreme at 40/1. Recent winners Valgrand and Fortune De Mer, both trained by Skelton, ended up in handicaps, while Slate House and Moon Racer failed to complete in their Festival targets.
His chances on Friday
There are 16 entries at the five-day stage, and this will be the toughest test of Planters Punch’s career. He has only ever raced against horses of his own age, and he now takes on older rivals for the first time, receiving just a pound from the five-year-olds. Cooltobecareless is 3/1 for Skelton, who has won two of the last three runnings, Golden Handshake is unbeaten in his last two starts, and Willie Mullins could send over Mr Hollywood, while Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies’ Scott’s Legacy is another to respect.
On balance, though, he is a worthy favourite. He has progressed with each run, the good ground should suit given all three of his wins came on good or good to soft, and few stables have a better record of turning high-class novices into Festival stars. If he can follow in Altior’s footsteps on Friday, Henderson may well have his next Supreme contender.
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