The November meeting: early Cheltenham Festival clues at the home of jump racing

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The 2021-22 jumps season might have officially started in April in Britain, but it doesn’t warm up until October and Cheltenham’s November meeting is when it comes to the boil.

This is the first of the season’s flagship meetings in Britain and when the road to the Cheltenham Festival begins. It kicks off a run of top-class jumps fixtures that take place every weekend up to Christmas and, for most fans of the winter version of the sport, this is where the magic starts.

The November meeting consists of three days. Countryside Day on Friday kicks off the weekend and visitors are encouraged to make their way into the centre of the track for the feature Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase, in which the runners negotiate all kinds of obstacles from the ditch and railed hedge to the cheese wedges and a replica of Aintree’s Canal Turn.

Paddy Power day on Saturday hosts the first big handicap chase of the season, the Paddy Power Gold Cup, while on Sunday it’s the hurdlers’ turn in the Unibet Greatwood Hurdle.

Be sure to have those notebooks ready as you watch because clues for the coming season will be plentiful.

KEY RACES

Paddy Power Gold Cup
Saturday

This race went through a golden period in the noughties when it was won by classy performers like Fondmort, Celestial Gold, Our Vic and Exotic Dancer. The latter was placed in a Gold Cup and, in 2008, Imperial Commander won the race the season before landing the Gold Cup.

During that decade, you needed a Graded-class chaser to win the Paddy Power Gold Cup, but since then only 2012 winner Al Ferof and Taquin Du Seuil (2016) could be considered genuine Graded performers. The majority of the others were just handicappers.

Coole Cody: race fitness on his side when successful last seasonCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Since Al Ferof’s victory under 11st 8lb, there has been a shift towards those battle-hardened types and most of them carried light weights. Seven of the last eight winners had 11st or less, with the exception being Taquin Du Seuil (11st 11lb), and five of those were in the 10st-something bracket.

Last year’s winner Coole Cody came out of a summer jumps campaign and every winner since Annacotty in 2015 went into the race having had a prep run. To win the Paddy Power nowadays, it looks like you need a race-fit, battle-hardened horse with a light weight.

The 2021-22 jumps season calendar: the major races by division (PDF)

Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle
Sunday

This event has a similar history to the Paddy Power Gold Cup. In the noughties it was won by subsequent Champion Hurdle winner Rooster Booster (2002) and threw up classy winners like Accordion Etoile, Detroit City, Sizing Europe and Khyber Kim, who all ran in the Champion Hurdle.

However, in recent years it has been dominated by improving handicappers who didn’t make it to the top. Age seems to be key. Rooster Booster is the only horse older than seven to have won and The Shunter, who was seven last year, is the only winner older than six since Khyber Kim in 2009. Young horses excel.

Since 2002, four winners have defied top weight of 11st 12lb but the last was Menorah in 2010 and eight winners since have carried 11st or less. There has evidently been a shift towards the lighter-weighted runners and last year The Shunter carried just 10st. He was another fit from summer jumping and the last four winners all had at least one prep run.

Shloer Chase
Sunday

The first thing to say about this Grade 2 chase is that it always goes to a horse who has shown a liking for the course and every winner since its inception in 2009 had already registered either a win or a place at Cheltenham. Ten of the 12 successful horses were bona fide course winners.

It’s also a race that appears to be growing in stature. The last seven winners all won a Grade 1 at some point in their career and last year’s heroine Put The Kettle On went on to Champion Chase success. Let’s hope Nicky Henderson chooses it for Shishkin’s seasonal reappearance.

Sprinter Sacre: won the Shloer Chase in 2015Credit: Edward Whitaker

Henderson has won it twice, in 2013 with Kid Cassidy and 2015 with Sprinter Sacre, but Philip Hobbs and Alan King are also among the current trainers who have registered two victories.

One of King’s wins came with Sceau Royal in 2018 and he looks an obvious example of a horse who could step in for a second victory in the race, should Shishkin fail to make it.

This has been a good race for horses doubling up. Gauvain won back-to-back runnings in 2010 and 2011, while Fox Norton completed the double in 2016 and 2017.

Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase
Friday

A lot of people turn up their noses at the cross-country chases at Cheltenham but I think they are a great spectacle and last year’s running of this race promised to be an absolute cracker.

Easysland and Tiger Roll went into it having won the last three cross-country races at the Cheltenham Festival between them and Easysland was odds-on to confirm the form of his 17-length festival victory. It didn’t quite go to plan for either of them, though.

Easysland put in a shoddy round of jumping in fourth and Tiger Roll was pulled up, leaving Kingswell Theatre to spring a 22-1 surprise from 18lb out of the weights.

Tiger Roll and Easysland still returned to the festival in March to fill the first two places in the championship event and this race last year taught us to tread carefully with stars like those, who are using this as just a prep for bigger targets down the line.

That’s not to say favourites have a bad record because, since the race became a handicap in 2015, two of the five market leaders have been successful. However, both wins were by the same horse, Josies Orders. He justified 11-4 favouritism in 2015 and was 2-1 in 2018.

From The Horses Mouth Podcast Novices’ Chase
Saturday

Who could forget the great Azertyuiop running away with this race before stamping his authority as the best two-mile novice chaser around in the Arkle in 2003? He went on to win the Champion Chase a year later and Put The Kettle On matched that treble in March.

Some duds have won it in the past as well, but last year’s fortunate winner Eldorado Allen went on to chase Shishkin home in the Arkle and it’s usually a hot race.

Azertyuiop: on the honour roll of this novice chaseCredit: Edward Whitaker

Look out for good hurdlers transitioning to chasing. Nine recent winners had achieved an RPR of at least 143 over hurdles and most of those had won or been placed at Cheltenham.

Jewson Click And Collect Handicap Chase
Sunday

Stamina is at a premium in this gruelling 3m3½f handicap chase that finishes with a stiff climb up the Cheltenham hill and ten of the 11 winners since 2010 had already won at 3m.

Older horses have generally struggled and nine recent winners were no older than eight. That includes last season’s victor Ramses De Teillee, who was the second youngest in the field.

Strong stayers who have age on their side and are on the way up have the ideal profile.

Lessons to learn

There will be no shortage of horses who use this meeting as part of their preparation for the Cheltenham Festival and last year there were clues aplenty for the winter season.

The Shloer Chase and the Greatwood Hurdle were run within 35 minutes of each other on Sunday and both races threw up festival winners. Put The Kettle On won the Shloer en route to Champion Chase victory and Greatwood scorer The Shunter came back in March to land the Plate over fences.

Other races that worked out well include the 2m4f novice chase on Friday won by April’s Aintree Grade 1 winner Protektorat. Third-placed Paint The Dream went on to win a novice handicap at Newbury on his next start and was third in a Grade 1 at Sandown in February.

Protektorat: a classy winner of the 2m4f novice chase on day one last seasonCredit: Edward Whitaker

The 2m½f novice handicap hurdle on Friday also worked out tidily. There were ten subsequent scorers behind winner Lively Citizen and that is the most of any race over the three days. It might be worth putting those who run well in the race this year in the notebook.

The 3m Listed handicap hurdle on Saturday was another fruitful race to follow and the runner-up Mrs Milner returned to Cheltenham in March to land the Pertemps Final. The winner On The Blind Side and third Golan Fortune were also successful subsequently.

The final mention goes to the JCB Triumph Trial. Duffle Coat won it, but it was second Adagio, third Balko Saint and fourth Cabot Cliffs who gave the form some substance. They won six times between them afterwards and this year’s contest might be another to follow.

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