The entire purpose of the Southwell race was to show the world how fit and enthusiastic the horse still is. Nothing wrong with that and the first place prize money of roughly 22k was much better than giving him a spin over four furlongs at Newbury against The rapist.
But, what will the tactics be at Cheltenham? The CH won’t be run at a crawl, especially if the ground should somehow ride faster than soft. He might be trying to make all, but the rest won’t fall asleep and he’ll have horses upsides him jumping the obstacles a few mph faster than in a Fighting Fifth. The schooling sessions at home which might consist of jumping three or four baby hurdles and running over three furlongs or so along a horse that is three stones inferior to him, tell absolutely nothing.
Why do connections think that this year’s race will be different and easier for him? It’s not a bumper like it looked last night, it’s a race with obstacles and what happens if he just hits one of them at an early stage? He might get frightened and fall back into his old patterns…
