Races To Keep An Eye On In The 2009/10 Jumps Season

Stick with Doncaster Novice Hurdles

After another strong series of races in 2008/09 to follow those in 2007/08 - which was the track's first jumps season since its reopening following rebuilding - I suggest continuing to follow the form of novice hurdles run at Doncaster in the 2009/10 campaign.

Signposts to future races were on show as soon as the first jump meeting of Town Moor's National Hunt season. Saticon may not have won the juvenile hurdle on December 12th but was a good third to West With The Wind, and probably earned a few each-way returns when filling the same position in the Fred Winter Juvenile at the Cheltenham Festival. Kangaroo Court, who subsequently won again at Lingfield after running second to Cheltenham Festival runner-up Karabak, was another good prospect on show that day, winning a 2m3f110y 'National Hunt' novice.

The following day, the two divisions of the 2m110y novices' hurdle proved warm races. Mighty Moon, fourth in the first leg, was a next-time-out winner, while Enfant De Lune followed up on his next run.

Day one of the Sky Bet Chase meeting in January saw arguably the best novice hurdle run at the track all season. The outsized Quwetwo bounded up the home straight, broken surcingle flapping, and he's sure to win a couple of novice chases in 2009/10 (he might even find fences too small).

Of those behind Quwetwo, three won next time out: Moonwalking, Hohlethelonely and All Three Fables (admittedly you had to wait a while for the first- and third-named as their next runs were in April and May respectively). And that's without mentioning the best prospect of all to come out of that particular race, as the sixth home in that, hurdling debutant El Dancer, went on to land the Grade 2 Top Novices' Hurdle at Aintree.

A rival to that race for quality took place the following week on the January 31st fixture. A clearly above-average juvenile in Master Of Arts beat older horses home, starting with one of my Ten To Follow for the new season Copper Bleu, in the 2m110y novices' hurdle. Third home King's Forest became yet another next-time-out winner from a Doncaster novice hurdle when going in at Kempton on March 17th.

The winner of the juvenile on February 18th Higgy's Boy subsequently won a valuable four-year-old handicap hurdle at Ascot, and two promising mares - Argento Luna who went on to win the Mares' Final at Newbury, and Ellen Tilley who'd won on her previous outing and was to win again next time out, went one-two in the 'National Hunt' mares' novice on February 27th; there were no fewer than six next-time-out winners in that, including Lindeman, Speed Bonnie Boat, And Whatever Else and Barton Grey in addition to the first two mentioned.

Continue to follow the form of novice hurdles, of all types, run at Doncaster in 2009/10. The last two seasons suggest that there will be a whole load of winners coming out of them.

© Roy Waterhouse
2009

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