Cheltenham November Meeting: six to keep in mind on Friday

The three-day November Meeting at Cheltenham is always one of the highlights of the season and the thrills are likely to come thick and fast.

Friday’s action includes two Grade Three races that are supported by competitive handicaps plus a cross-country contest featuring plenty of familiar names.

Here are six possible runners to keep an eye out for. The final declaration will be made at 10am on Wednesday.

FATHOM TWO

Trainer: Gavin Cromwell. Race: Lycetts Insurance Brokers Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle (1.10). Odds: --

Gavin Cromwell dominated The Showcase meeting at Cheltenham last month with Encore Bruno, My Mate Mozzie and Flooring Porter all being impressive winners. His other two runners at the meeting finished second.

Cromwell has two possible runners on Friday in Fathom Two, who is engaged in the races that start and end the card, plus Downtherefordancin, who is also entered in the finale. More of that race, later.

This 2m 5f race, for conditional jockeys, looks the best fit for Fathom Two as this sort of trip seems sure to suit him better than shorter. The trainer took the prize 12 months ago with Sweet Will.

Fathom Two was 0/4 in bumpers, looking a bit of a slow learner, but the six-year-old has shown ability in each of his three races over hurdles, with his win at Downpatrick in mid-September working out nicely.

He came up short back at the track last time, on handicap debut, but that 2m 2f contest developed into something of a sprint and a peck two out didn’t help his cause, either. He was doing his best work at the finish and, if nothing else, it will have taught him a bit more. A mark of 117 looks workable.

PETIT TONNERRE

Trainer: Jonjo O’Neill. Race: SSS Super Alloys Arkle Challenge Trophy Trial Novices' Chase (2.20). Odds: 12/1 with Unibet.

Things haven’t gone to plan with Petit Tonnerre since he made a striking British debut at Market Rasen early last year, having previously shone in France, but he’s an intriguing chasing recruit.

His first two runs last term, in competitive handicap hurdles at Aintree and Newbury, hinted he had a big day in him but he then got wiped out in the Lanzarote before again catching the eye at Ascot.

On his final start of the season, he was dropped back to 2m for the County Hurdle and he kept on well to be a close seventh. Not for the first time, it looked like the JP McManus-owned five-year-old had more to offer.

He’s a bit of a mystery trip wise – over 2m he looks as if wanting farther, but then when he goes over farther looks as though he wants shorter – but I’d marginally be in the 2m camp and that’s the trip chosen for him here as he starts his career over fences.

Petit Tonnerre has the stamp of a chaser and, a strong traveller, should do well in this sphere if his jumping stands up. There are several other promising types among the opposition, but there are no top-class hurdlers making the switch to worry about.

DELTA WORK & GALVIN

Trainer: Gordon Elliott. Race: Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase (2.55). Odds: --

Gordon Elliott has his team in formidable form, chalking up 20 winners from 55 runners in November. It’s not the first time his runners have thrived during this month in the past, chalking up 37 last year, but never had anything like his present strike-rate.

Anything he runs at the moment demands a second look but keep in mind that his ten runners in Britain last month didn’t make much impact, and that his November runners on these shores are usually far from prolific. He’s not had a November winner in Britain since 2020, from 15 runners, and, in the past decade, five victors from 65.

Delta Work and Galvin fought out the Glenfarclas Chase at the Festival in March, with the former retaining the crown he won at the expense of Tiger Roll 12 months earlier. They outclassed inferior rivals on level terms that day but this race, a handicap, will demand more from them, with the opposition receiving chunks of weight.

It will be a surprise if they both turn up, although they are in different ownership and so perhaps, they might.

Delta Work got his eye in for the season when third to Minella Indo in a Grade Three contest at Punchestown last month and will no doubt have a third crack at the Randox Grand National on his agenda. Galvin has been absent since exiting at the first fence in this year’s National, but he goes well fresh, with his record after a break of four months or more reading 1U1111.

CAPTAIN TEAGUE

Trainer: Paul Nicholls. Race: Trustatrader Novices' Hurdle (3.30). Odds: general 6/4.

The five-year-old is one of the most exciting young horses in training, confirming himself as a tremendous prospect when winning the Persian War Novices’ Hurdle by the best part of ten lengths on his debut over Jumps at Chepstow last month.

It speaks volumes for the regard that he is held in at Ditcheat that he was thrown straight into Grade Two company against rivals who had previously won 11 races over hurdles between them. He was strong at the finish, indicating that this 2m 5f trip will pose him no problem.

Captain Teague has Cheltenham experience as well of course, having been a fine third in the Champion Bumper in March on what was only his second start. He was the only home-trained runner among the first 11 that day.

There will be plenty more Irish-trained rivals for Captain Teague to conquer over the months ahead, including on Friday in all probability, but he clearly has bags of ability and potential. He’s a general 14/1 for the Ballymore in March, which would already look a natural target.

Have a day at the races on us. for more details.

ZANNDABAD

Trainer: Tony Martin. Race: Valda Energy Novices' Handicap Hurdle (4.05). Odds: --

Tony Martin has either got an extremely well-handicapped young horse on his hands or an expensive underachiever. I fancy it may well be the former.

Zanndabad showed smart form on the Flat in France at up to ten furlongs in 2021 and 2022, winning four races and twice being placed in Listed company. He changed hands for €240,000 about this time in 2022 and was moved to Martin’s base in Kildalkey from the yard of Francis Graffard.

The gelding flashed a bit of promise in three runs over hurdles without winning, being an eye-catcher on his debut under sympathetic handling before being held back by jumping errors on his next two starts. He has since two more spins on the Flat, when tackling staying trips that have looked beyond him.

Zanndabad was on my radar for the Boodles at the Cheltenham Festival in March, but he didn’t make the cut, finding himself among the reserves. He now belatedly gets a chance to show what he can do in handicaps, looking potentially thrown in from an opening mark of 117 given that his Flat rating was in the mid 90s at the start of the year.

Martin didn’t leave last year’s Festival empty-handed – his Good Time Johnny landed the Pertemps Final – and his 17 previous Cheltenham winners include Quick Jack, who sent plenty of punters home happy when lifting this prize under Ruby Walsh in 2013. Like Zanndabad, he was a four-year-old favourably treated on his Flat form.