HILL CLIMBS UP A LEVEL
Johnson hat-trick is right on Thyme
PHILIP HOBBS refused to make any bold predictions after Thyme Hill gave him a second victory in the Betway Challow Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury.
But there was plenty to like about hiss third successive success over hurdles.
Hobbs said: “The last time I stood here in the winners’ enclosure after the Challow Hurdle was when I won it with Fingal Bay in 2011.
“I said he was best horse I had ever trained and he duly flopped so I had better not say that this time.”
Bookmakers were clearly impressed and have shortened the five-year-old from 8-1 to 6-1 for Albert Bartlett Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.
“I will probably not run him before Cheltenham,” added Hobbs.
“If the ground is soft at the Festival, he will probably go for the Ballymore and if it comes up good, it will be the Albert Bartlett.”
Hobbs took encouragement from Chacun Pour Soi’s defeat at Leopardstown on Friday as he is a leading player for the Champion Chase at Cheltenham, the race he has in mind for Defi Du Seuil.
“He’s probably not the horse we thought he was,” said Hobbs. “That has to be a plus.
“Defi Du Seuil is now on target for next month’s Clarence House Chase at Ascot next month.”
Champion jockey Richard Johnson, the partner of Thyme Hill, was completing a treble, having partnered Fair Kate and Defi Sacre to victory for Tom Lacey.
This enabled Johnson to go one in front of Brian Hughes for the jockeys’ title race.
At Leopardstown, Delta Work put himself in the mix for the Cheltenham Gold Cup after arriving in the dying strides, under Jack Kennedy, to snatch victory from Monalee in the Savils Chase.
Kemboy, the Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite, finished a disappointing fourth.
Gordon Elliott, the winning trainer, said: “We thought he was a Gold Cup horse and obviously our bubble got burst when he was beat at Down Royal but we’re not gone yet.”
Elliott and Kennedy also enjoyed Apple’s Jade return to form in the Frank Ward Hurdle.
“If she hadn’t run well today, she was going to be retired,” said winning owner Michael O’Leary. “But now we are really back in business.”