Get A Tonic bids to follow up her recent course win as top trainers take aim at handicap hurdle

Just five stables are represented in this six-runner handicap and three of the trainers have outstanding records at Newbury but Dan Skelton, who saddles the likely market leader Get A Tonic, isn't one of them. He has a strike-rate of just ten per cent at this course.

Get A Tonic was one of his 11 winners (from 108 runners) at the track in the last five seasons when she landed a course-and-distance handicap on Coral Gold Cup day this month and the return to hurdling, after a disappointing chasing debut at Warwick, appeared to do the trick.

However, she was an unfancied 28-1 chance that day, so the win came as a bit of a surprise, and she has been raised 8lb in the weights to a career-high mark. It’s evident that she has no secrets from the handicapper and top weight of 12st proves that, but she is the class act.

Venetia Williams has a 27 per cent strike-rate at Newbury in the last five seasons, Paul Nicholls is on 24 per cent and Nicky Henderson on 22 per cent, so those records would make me wary of taking a short price about Get A Tonic or Rambo T. They are the only two runners not from those stables.

Williams is represented by Now Or Never, who is hard to weigh up on his stable debut. He was competing in the French provinces when last seen 419 days ago and Williams' strike-rate is just 11 per cent with runners having their first outing for the yard after switching from other stables.

That leaves the race to the Henderson-trained Steal A March or the two Nicholls representatives, Irish Hill and Silent Revolution. Nicholls fits Irish Hill with blinkers and the trainer is 3-13 with runners wearing headgear for the first time since the start of last season, so that’s clearly a positive.
Analysis by Graeme Rodway

Royal festival absentee returns

Most trainers are intimately familiar with the sentiments of Robert Burns in his famous poem, To A Mouse, even if they may not necessarily know the details of it.

In the poem, Burns empathises with the mouse whose nest has been destroyed by ploughing and declares that the “best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men” often go wrong. Such a turn of events is not unusual for a trainer either.

Take Steal A March, for example. This time last year, the Nicky Henderson-trained gelding provided the King with his first winner over jumps when landing a qualifier at Wincanton for the Pertemps Network Final at the Cheltenham Festival.

However, having been geared up to provide the monarch with a first Cheltenham Festival runner as King, Steal A March picked up an injury less than a week before the meeting, leaving Henderson “gutted” as his best-laid plans fell apart.

This will be the first time Steal A March has been sighted on a racecourse since his Wincanton win but he returns to action with his injury behind him. 

Writing in his Unibet blog, Henderson said: "He went wrong about three weeks before Cheltenham, which was very disappointing because I thought I had him nicely lined up for the Pertemps, but these things happen and he seems in good form. I will say, however, that he is quite burly this year, although he should be fit enough because I’ve got plenty of work into him, but the proof will be in the actual pudding."

What they say

Paul Nicholls, trainer of Silent Revolution and Irish Hill
Silent Revolution had a wind op again in the summer and will improve for the run and probably go novice chasing after this. Irish Hill has blinkers on to sharpen him up. I thought he raced a bit lazily last time, which is unlike him. I'm hoping they have the desired effect.

Venetia Williams, trainer of Now Or Never
It’s his first run in this country and we’re on a learning curve with him. We don't know if he wants this ground and probably he'll come on for the run a little bit as well. But there’s some nice prize-money on offer at this time of year, so we’re making a start with him.

Olly Murphy, trainer of Rambo T
He’s in good form and I think he’s going to appreciate coming back in trip. We tried him over three miles last time but watching the race we don’t think he stayed the distance. I think he’s got a nice chance.

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