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Anglo Irish Bank Supreme Novices Hurdle
Race Conditions
The Supreme Novices Hurdle (2:00pm) is the traditional Festival curtain raiser. It is run over the Champion Hurdle course and distance of two miles and about half a furlong. It is open to novices aged four years old and upwards, and the total prize fund this year is £120,000.
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Recent Winners
The race always attracts a large field and, therefore, experience of competing in similar conditions is often of paramount importance. As always, the ground is also crucial. If the going is on the quick side, then the flat bred runners often hold the key.
Surprisingly, however, you have to go back nine years, to Hors La Loi III’s victory in 1999, to find the last horse to complete the Supreme Novices / Champion Hurdle double.
| Year | Horse | Age | Trainer | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Captain Cee Bee | 7 | E P Harty | 17/2 |
| 2007 | Ebaziyan | 6 | W P Mullins | 40/1 |
| 2006 | Noland | 5 | P Nicholls | 6/1 |
| 2005 | Arcalis | 5 | J Howard Johnson | 20/1 |
| 2004 | Brave Inca | 6 | C Murphy | 7/2F |
| 2003 | Back In Front | 6 | E O’Grady | 3/1F |
| 2002 | Like-A-Butterfly | 8 | C Roche | 7/4F |
| 2000 | Sausalito Bay | 6 | N Meade | 14/1 |
| 1999 | Hors La Loi III | 4 | M Pipe | 9/2 |
| 1998 | French Ballerina | 5 | P Flynn | 10/1 |
| 1997 | Shadow Leader | 6 | C Egerton | 5/1 |
| 1996 | Indefence | 5 | J Pitman | 25/1 |
| 1995 | Tourist Attraction | 6 | W Mullins | 25/1 |
| 1994 | Arctic Kinsman | 6 | N Twiston-Davies | 50/1 |
Key Trends
30 of the last 34 winners were aged 5 or 6.
12 of the last 13 winners won last time out.
10 of the last 17 (and 5 out of the last 7) winners were Irish-trained.
8 of the last 16 renewals won by horses with two or fewer runs over hurdles.
Watch the 2008 Supreme Novices Hurdle:
2007 Review
After weeks of seemingly incessant rain, the 2007 Festival began under sparkling blue skies on a stunning spring day at Prestbury Park.
Thankfully, the few drying days we had enjoyed leading up to the opening event had dried the ground up significantly from almost unraceable a week earlier to going reported by the jockeys to be dead, and a mixture of soft, good to soft and good.
Unfortunately for punters, it didn’t take long for the first big plunge of the meeting to go down as hot favourite Amaretto Rose, was eventually beaten into third by the surprise winner EBAZIYAN and Granit Jack.
EBAZIYAN started a relatively unfancied 40/1 shot, but there was no denying the merit of his victory. He was locked in a battle for the lead with the second and third from the last, but pulled away in impressive fashion halfway up the straight. The horse is very lightly raced and beautifully bred, and should, therefore, be open to bags of improvement. He isn’t short of speed, but showed ample stamina as well, galloping all the way to the line. The one question mark would have to be the quality of the form as it didn’t appear to be the strongest renewal of this race.
Granit Jack almost secured back to back wins in the race for trainer Paul Nicholls and owner Jon Hales. He lost nothing in defeat, however, as he is a big strong, chasing type who has already won a number of races over fences in his native France. He was prominent from a long way out and probably just lacked the winner’s turn of foot. He will be an exciting prospect when switched back to fences next season. A step back up in trip is also sure to suit.
Amaretto Rose certainly gave her many supporters a decent run for their money. The first roar from the crowd at the Festival always greats the start of this race, but we didn’t have to wait long for the second which followed the racecourse commentator’s announcement that Mick Fitzgerald was cutting through the field on this mare as the leaders ran to the top of the hill. She was still swinging off the bridle at the second last, and looked all over the winner at that point. However, as her detractors suspected, she was slightly one paced on the run in and probably needs softer ground to be effective at the highest level over this trip.
De Soto has already run two cracking races at previous Festivals, and his fourth here was another top class performance. He could never quite get to the leaders on this rain softened ground, and is definitely better on quicker going. He may also prefer 2½ miles, but a big race win surely awaits.
Wins Now was a fast finishing fifth to suggest that he too may be better over further. He is built to jump fences and on the evidence of this performance is a very exciting prospect.
Special Envoy and Tyson also both deserve a mention.
Special Envoy belied odds of 125/1 to run a blinder in seventh, despite making a hash of the last. He travelled like a decent horse for much of the race and is now starting to show his Flat race form over hurdles.
Tyson, was also going well in behind the leaders coming down the hill. He just seemed to run out of petrol on the long climb to the finish but was not disgraced back in ninth. He was top class on the Flat in South Africa and could still have more to offer given that this was only his second start over hurdles.
Kicks For Free is hugely talented, but his last few runs have given the impression that he may have some sort of physical problem. Hopefully, that can be sorted out over the summer. Hide The Evidence was a big disappointment, but threw away his chance by pulling too hard early on.
2006 Review
The 2006 Festival got underway under cloudy skies on a bitterly cold day, but the action on the course was red hot from the outset as NOLAND got up in the shadow of the post to pip Straw Bear in the Supreme Novice Hurdle. It was a great start to the meeting for the Paul Nicholls / Ruby Walsh combination, who went on to win the top trainer and top jockey titles at the meeting. It was also a good start for punters, as Noland was second favourite on the day and had been well supported for this race ever since his impressive win in the Tolworth Hurdle.
Victory for this strapping, chasing sort didn’t look likely turning for home - one £20 exchange player was £19,980 worse off for laying the winner at 999-1 in running. However, Walsh managed to galvanise his mount on the climb to the hill and they won by a neck in the end. There was always a concern that Noland might lack a bit of pace for this contest, but despite the good ground he just managed to stay close enough to the leaders throughout the contest to give his stamina a chance to save the day.
He is perhaps the most imposing horse in the field and he’ll now go chasing, with next year’s Arkle likely to be his aim.
Straw Bear lost nothing in defeat. He ran a fine race considering he would probably have preferred softer ground. Indeed, had it not been for a mistake at the last he may have held on. Given his flat pedigree he is likely to stay over hurdles and may be good enough to make the Champion Hurdle line up. However, the statistics suggest connections should have another big race in mind as amazingly enough the last three Gold Cup winners had all previously finished as runner up in this race.
Buena Vista turned out to be a rare success for Martin Pipe in an otherwise thoroughly forgettable Festival for the champion trainer. He always looked to have a decent each way chance given his form earlier on in the season, including that with Noland.
Of the rest, the others to note are Sublimity, who was unlucky not to finish third and should improve for more experience and even better ground, and Natal, who’ll be another exciting recruit to chasing next year.
The disappointment was the Irish hot pot, Sweet Wake. There was always the risk that this horse had been over-hyped going into the race and his form certainly suggested that he had to improve to play a part in the finish. It appeared that he wasn’t able to do so, however connections think that this wasn’t his true running and so he may still be capable of justifying his reputation.
Immediately after the race, Noland was given a 12-1 quote by William Hill for the 2007 Arkle and Straw Bear 25-1 for the Champion Hurdle.
Ruby Walsh celebrates aboard Noland after snatching victory in the 2006 Supreme Novices Hurdle.