All eyes head to Wales on Friday for day one of the DragonBet Welsh Racing Festival and the feature race of the day is the Grade 2 DragonBet Persian War Novices’ Hurdle at 3.43pm. A race that could throw up some early Cheltenham Festival clues has attracted some exciting novice hurdlers and our in-house GG tipster Steve Chambers previews the big race of the day and picks out his 1-2-3.
Favourites
A facile two-and-a-quarter length winner of a decent novice hurdle at Newbury back in March, Queensbury Boy was then sent over to Ireland for the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival. However, the David Maxwell-owned and ridden six-year-old was no match for Final Demand and had to settle for fifth place. With Maxwell now having hung up his riding boots then Queensbury Boy will be looking to get back to winning ways and the Harry Derham-trained raider sets a pretty high standard for this event with Paul O’Brien now in the saddle.
A winner of this event back in 2016 on board El Bandit, Sean Bowen will attempt to taste more success in the DragonBet Persian War and he will be aboard Olly Murphy’s Sticktotheplan, who heads into the race on the back of a listed novice hurdle win at the Galway Festival back in July. A shock 22/1 winner that day, he will be a lot shorter with DragonBet for this event and with race fitness on his side he will certainly be in the shake-up in the closing stages of the 2m 3f 100y, but he will have to give weight away to all his rivals.
Dan Skelton will hold aspirations of challenging for the Trainers’ Championship this season and with over £45k available to the winner here then he will be looking to claim the first big post of the new National Hunt season. He will unleash Moneygarrow, who was a smart bumper horse last season and was a decent second in a listed event at Ascot, while he was last seen finishing second at Kempton. With improvement sure to come over obstacles he is a fascinating hurdling recruit this season, but will lack the experience of some of his rivals.
Outsiders
Fergal O’Brien won this race three years ago and he will send three-times hurdle winner Jack Hyde across the Severn Bridge and the seven-year-old warmed up for this with a comfortable victory at Newton Abbot, where he was sent off a the prohibitive odds of 1/7. This is a much sterner test, but he’s a progressive performer over timber and has to be given the utmost respect, as he lines up with fitness on his side.
Having saddled the likes of Knowhere (2004) and Blaklion (2014) to victory in this race, Nigel Twiston-Davies knows what it takes to land this Grade 2 prize and the Naunton handler – now aided by his son Willy, will send Krak to the start line. Trained by Stuart Crawford in Ireland last season, he was a handicap hurdle winner at Cork on his last outing, so will be looking to step out of that sphere and into Graded company here.
Gordon Elliott will send over an intriguing runner in the shape of Kainsbourg, who was seen only a couple of weeks ago claiming victory in a Listowel novice hurdle. A dual winner over obstacles, the JP McManus-owned runner certainly one to watch in the betting and could be a lively outsider.
James Owen’s Laravie has racked up a four-timer over hurdles in minor events at the likes of Stratford, Uttoxeter and Market Rasen and will now be thrown in the deep end at a higher level. In form, he’s one that will need to continue to improve, as will the final runner Kilwaughter, who was sixth in a Grade 2 Aintree bumper two starts ago and was then third at Punchestown. The Philip Hobbs and Johnson White-trained runner is another making hurdles debut here, so adds mode depth to the contest.
Verdict
QUEENSBURY BOY has been a horse many people’s lips heading into the new jumps season, as he’s set to be up for sale in a few weeks as the iconic David Maxwell veers away from the world of horse racing. However, he showed last year under his idiosyncratic pilot that he has huge potential over obstacles and he could prove to be a cut above his rivals here. Moneygarrow could be a smart performer for the Skelton operation this campaign and can chase him home, while the flourishing Laravie can complete the 1-2-3 in an intriguing renewal.
#AD 18+. Full T&Cs apply. GambleAware.org
Looking For More Racing Info? Check Out Our Racecards & Top Tips Sections
Make sure you’re following us on all our social media platforms to keep up to date with all the latest horse racing news and the best tips.