Timeform ratings reaction including Brandy Love, Corbetts Cross and Vanillier
Brandy Love return better than it looked
Queens Brook (147 from 145) justified good support when winning Wednesday's Quevega Mares Hurdle at Punchestown, hitting the front two out and just needing to be driven out from there to win by four and a half lengths.
All roads now lead back to Cheltenham for Queens Brook as she tries to go one place better than when chasing home Marie's Rock (156) in the David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle last year, though that looks likely to be a deeper race this time with the likes of Honeysuckle (157), Epatante (156), Echoes In Rain (150) and Love Envoi (148) all joining the defending champion among the potential opposition.
Brandy Love (152p from 148p) is also likely to pose a bigger threat at Cheltenham than when finishing only third (beaten four and three-quarter lengths) at Punchestown last week, where she was attempting to concede 9 lb to the winner on her first start for 10 months.
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Another factor against Brandy Love was the tight right-handed track for a mare who often jumps/hangs left. She was a bit better in both areas on Wednesday, though she did briefly reprise her old party trick when lugging left on the home turn and the writing was on the wall once she'd flattened the last, her absence then seeming to take its toll as she lost second late on.
In pure form terms, this was still a better effort than anything Brandy Love had achieved in three previous starts over hurdles and the small 'p' attached to her Timeform rating denotes that she is open to further improvement, particularly when going the other way around.
She will be doing just that at Cheltenham and is certainly no forlorn hope to give trainer Willie Mullins a tenth win in the Mares' Hurdle, with only Honeysuckle, Epatante and Marie's Rock – who could yet run in the Stayers' Hurdle – ahead of her in Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings as things stand.
Vanillier coming to the boil for in-form Cromwell
A dominant 11-length winner of the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival two years ago, Vanillier (154+ from 151) has been expensive to follow in the interim and you have to go back to the Grade Two Florida Pearl Novice Chase at Punchestown in November 2021 for his only win in 11 subsequent starts.
His latest runner-up effort in Saturday's Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse was much more like it, though, and it's not out of the question that he would have ended his losing run had things panned out differently.
Held up in the early stages, he made steady headway from five out and kept finding having been pushed along entering the straight. However, he was forced to switch on the run-in and that might have cost him as he was closing all the way to the line but could never quite get on terms with the high-class winner, Kemboy (remains 160x).
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Vanillier emerged as comfortably the best horse at the weights – he was beaten just half a length despite conceding 8 lb to the winner – and this was as good an effort as he's ever produced over fences, clearly benefiting from the return to further having been campaigned at around two and a half miles in three previous starts this season.
The Gavin Cromwell yard continues in top form and this run should set Vanillier up nicely for a tilt at the Grand National. Crucially, he now tops the 79 entries on Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings for the National, confirming that he is a well-handicapped horse if he can build on the promise of that Fairyhouse outing.
Thanksforthehelp one to follow
The Pertemps qualifier on Saturday's card at Chepstow looked a competitive heat on paper, but it proved quite the opposite in the end as Thanksforthehelp (125p from 119+) ran out an effortless winner for the David Pipe yard, showing much improved form into the bargain.
On his first start since failing to meet market expectations at Wetherby on Boxing Day, Thanksforthehelp simply couldn't have been more impressive at Chepstow, hitting the front on the approach to two out and not needing to come off the bridle as he gradually cruised clear to win by six and a half lengths with any amount in hand.
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It's hard to pinpoint the catalyst for this significant career best, with the step up to three miles, application of first-time cheekpieces and another breathing operation since his previous run all possible factors.
Either way, Thanksforthehelp was clearly a totally different proposition and his connections will be hoping he can continue to go the right way with a view to the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival.
They'll also be keeping their fingers crossed that Thanksforthehelp is able to get a run in that race. He is sure to face a significant rise in the weights, but this victory came from a BHA mark of 117 and it took a mark of 134 just to sneak in at the bottom last year.
Corbetts Cross continues to impress
The first two pulled 16 lengths clear of the remainder in the Johnstown Novice Hurdle at Naas on Sunday, both showing form bordering on smart and retaining the potential to do better still.
Runner-up Found A Fifty (142p from 131p) deserves plenty of credit for running to such a high level on just his second start over hurdles, but so too does the winner Corbetts Cross (remains 142p), who was dropping back markedly in trip – from three miles to two miles – on his first start for Emmet Mullins having won two from three over timber when trained by Eugene O'Sullivan.
The way that he coped with this very different test was arguably the most impressive aspect of Corbetts Cross' performance, always in his comfort zone travelling at pace and typically finding plenty after the last to get the verdict by a head.
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The Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle over three miles is his only entry at the Cheltenham Festival, though Mullins hasn't ruled out supplementing him for one of the other races.
Mullins also hasn't ruled out missing the Festival altogether if he doesn't believe the ground to be suitable, though Corbetts Cross has shown himself to be versatile in that regard – the ground at Naas was described by Timeform as good to soft and he'd won twice before that on heavy.
Wherever he goes next, Corbetts Cross will warrant respect for a yard which has few peers when it comes to finding winning opportunities.
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