8 winners in OJA on Saturday

There were plenty of pointers for the future on the second day of the showcase meeting at Cheltenham on Saturday. The improving Blueking D'Oroux booked his place in the Greatwood Hurdle next month after taking the Masterson Holdings Hurdle by two lengths. Paul Nicholls' four year old benefited from a wind operation last season and is expected to improve from his reappearance. Officially rated 138, it is worth noting the champion trainer has won the Greatwood Hurdle with four year olds in the past, namely Brampour (2011) and Old Guard (2015) and the Jeu St Eloi gelding looks set to play a leading role.

Dual Stayers' Hurdle winner Flooring Porter made a successful start to his chasing career and, in doing so, maintained the terrific stable form of Henry De Bromhead - 9 winners during the last 14 days at a strike-rate of 31%. Well clear of his three opponents on official ratings in the staying novices' chase, he was given a positive ride by Keith Donoghue. While he made a couple of errors at the ditches, the eight year old always appeared to be in control. Value for more than the winning margin of two and a half lengths, it remains to be seen whether he will add to his Grade 1 haul over fences. This was a solid start but much stiffer tasks lie ahead and it is 32 years since a nine year old won the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase at the Festival. Nigel Twiston-Davies was responsible for the second and third, namely Broadway Boy and the much vaunted Weveallbeencaught - both horses look more likely to win a good staying handicap rather than a Grade 1 novice chase. 

Despite her Grand National winner Corach Rambler fluffing his lines in the Edinburgh Gin Chase finishing a distant last behind Elvis Mail (his fourth course win), Lucinda Russell dominated proceedings otherwise at Kelso with four winners. Three of those, namely Bollingerandkrug (6/4), Old Gregorian (100/30) and Jem In Em (13/8), featured in her Talking Trainers interview in One Jump Ahead. 

Indeed, it proved to be an excellent day for followers of One Jump Ahead with 8 winners in total. These include a couple at Galway - Kaleosun (5/2) made amends for his short price defeat on his jumping debut at Cork by taking the opening juvenile hurdle. In keeping with a lot of his stablemates, Gordon Elliott's three year old improved for his seasonal pipeopener. A strong stayer, the softer the ground the better. The No Risk At All gelding is featured in the French Revolution section. Declan Phelan's Irish Pointers were also amongst the winners, too, with Butcher Hollow (11/4) taking the bumper. A sixteen lengths winner of his point last winter, the Kingston Hill gelding changed hands for 200,000gns in February and produced a good performance on his Rules debut. Staying on well under Cork amateur Darragh Allen (rode him in his point), he crossed the line four and a half lengths in front. His victory was a welcome winner for his trainer Thomas Cooper - his first since January.

I am very much looking forward to working for Racing TV at Aintree on Sunday - it is an excellent seven race card with the Grade 2 Old Roan Chase the highlight, and ably backed up by an interesting novice hurdle which has been won by the likes of Wichita Lineman and Cue Card. There is also a competitive two and a half miles handicap hurdle which went the way of Paisley Park off a mark of 140 in 2018. It promises to be a cracking afternoon's sport. I will be back to update the Diary early next week. 

The first One Jump Ahead Update, which concentrates on the Paddy Power meeting at Cheltenham plus a host of other features, will be emailed to clients on Thursday 16th November. If you haven't ordered the Updates, please head to the Publications section of the site.