Angel Off To Flying Start

Ben Morgan looks at Thursday’s action at Liverpool.

- Ben Morgan

MANIFESTO NOVICES CHASEWillie Mullins’ Yorkhill was the victor in the JLT at Cheltenham, a race run over the same distance as this. The horse is now being touted for the Gold Cup next year and rightly so as he looked pretty good in March. It is not a definite that he turns up here so preference would be for a more probable runner, but if he did take up the engagement he would take a lot of beating. One horse who is being aimed towards the race is Waiting Patiently, which is exactly what connections have had to do as he suffered a slight hiccup in his preparations for Cheltenham and had to miss the festival. Prior to that he had looked mightily impressive when dispatching of Politologue, who himself had looked a star in the making before that race. He jumped very well for a novice that day and was held on to until the last fence and went on to win with plenty in hand. He may be one to chance at a price.

Kim Bailey stated in the run up to Cheltenham that he thought Charbel’s best trip is over two miles, but he may want to rethink that statement as consistently running over that distance could mean bumping into Altior on a frequent basis. Last year’s third, Sizing John had a similar profile to the selection in the fact that he kept bumping into Douvan before going onto forge his own success in longer distance chases and I think Charbel has more than enough ability to follow the same path.

FLYING ANGEL will be an interesting runner for Nigel Twiston-Davies as he seemed to be going well at Cheltenham when he was hindered badly which put pay to his big day. He has always been thought of a better chaser and I think there is a lot more to come from him. The race looks tailor made for him and due to his misfortune in the JLT I suspect he may well be missed by the bookies and go off a tasty price.

Shantou Village would also be of interest if turning up but the occasion may come a year too soon for Clan Des Obeaux.