Gift takes next step on the road to Gold
All eyes will be on Iris’s Gift as the former Stayers’ Hurdle winner bids to complete a four-timer over fences at Newbury tomorrow.
The talented grey is among a field of seven declared for the Unicoin Homes Novices’ Chase over three miles.
Connections of the Jonjo O’Neill-trained gelding have opted to stick to the novice route rather than go for much higher stakes in Saturday’s Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at the Berkshire track.
“If he puts in a clear round he should go close. We should know more tomorrow about whether we can keep our aspirations about him,” said owner Robert Lester.
“The ground should be OK and he’s won there before in a Grade Two bumper.
“We entered him for the Hennessy to have a look but we are sticking to the novice route until the New Year. Obviously the (Cheltenham) Gold Cup is the ultimate dream. Hopefully we’ll know more tomorrow.
“He’s so laid back and never puts a foot wrong schooling at home. In a race it’s a different ball game.
“His jumping’s been giving me a heart attack but last time at Cheltenham he jumped the last five fences brilliantly and he and AP (Tony McCoy) are forming a great partnership.”
Lucy Wadham could have gone for a two-and-a-half-mile novice chase on Sunday with The Dark Lord but decided to run her stable star on the first day of the meeting instead.
The eight-year-old, a smart staying handicap hurdler, made a successful debut over fences at Fakenham a month ago.
“Everybody was ducking and diving where to go. The ground is good and we thought we’d go on sooner rather than later because of the weather,” said the Newmarket handler.
“Because of the novice chase programme we have no option but to go for a race like this.
“The handicapper won’t give him a handicap mark after one run over fences so I have to run him two more times. I’m not going to run him off his hurdling mark of 135. It does need addressing.
“We are all in the same boat but I suppose it’s not so bad if you’ve got 20 of these horses. I’ve just got the one.
“However, it has thrown up an interesting race tomorrow even though the trainers have got a difficult job.
“I just hope he puts in a nice clear round and picks up some place money because he looks to have an impossible task.”
The top teams of Martin Pipe and Paul Nicholls are represented by Lough Derg and Goblet of Fire respectively, while another top trainer Philip Hobbs runs Unleash.
The field is completed by Charlie Egerton’s Darkness and Senor Sedona, trained by Nick Gifford.
