Persian War Novices' Hurdle Tips: Progressive Grey to challenge Captain Teague at Chepstow
One of the early season highlights on the National Hunt calendar will take place at Chepstow on Friday afternoon as the Grade 2 Persian War Novices' Hurdle will take centre stage and it will see a red-hot favourite in the shape of Captain Teague, who aims to hand Paul Nicholls more success in the event. Our man Steve Chambers previews the big race here, which takes place in front of the ITV Racing cameras...
Sent off a 40/1 outsider for the Champion Bumper at last season's Cheltenham Festival, Captain Teague ran an almighty race to finish third to the top notch duo of A Dream To Share and Fact To File. Now set for his hurdling debut in the Persian War Novices' Hurdle at Chepstow, the five-year-old will be a red-hot favourite to hand Paul Nicholls a staggering ninth winner in the race.
Captain Teague is already featuring prominently for some of the leading novice hurdles at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival and is around a 16/1 chance for the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle, while is around 20s for the Albert Bartlett. If he is to be considered a leading contender for those Grade 1 events then he will need to probably win this contest, as he has by far and away the best form in the book on the level and is entitled to be a clear favourite for a race that Nicholls excels in.
Still relatively raw, the five-year-old is sure to improve as the season progresses, but you can be certain that the Ditcheat team will have him well tuned up for a race he has won in the past with the likes of Silviniaco Conti and McFabulous and it will be hard to look elsewhere, but on seasonal reappearance the odds-on available with the bookmakers is far from attractive.
Dan Skelton's Rock House will be one of the leading challengers to Captain Teague and he will come into this with some hurdling experience and he couldn't have been more impressive when winning on his first outing over timber at Warwick last month. A 13-length winner that day, the five-year-old didn't beat much in maiden company and this is a huge step up in class, but with race fitness on his side he has to be considered a lively contender. He may not reach the heights Captain Teague does later in the season, but Rock House is certainly one for the shortlist.
The Milton Harris-trained Mullinaree has been a winning machine during the summer months and has racked up a fine winning streak of five races and will bid for the six-timer on Friday. Undoubtedly, in the form of his life the seven-year-old has been landing victories in some pretty low-graded handicap hurdles, so stepping up to Grade 2 level is a big ask and it's one he may find too much.
One at eye-catching double-figured odds is the Olly Murphy-trained RESPLENDENT GREY, who was a decent bumper horse, but has been a host that has excelled since switching to the hurdling sphere. Wins at Wetherby and Perth at the back end of last season saw him kick-start his jumping career with two wins out of two over hurdles, and he could well be the each-way play here. Last seen bounding to victory at Perth, he shaped like the two miles that day was a little on the short side, so a step up in trip here could see him improve further. Like Captain Teague he will be having his first run of the campaign, but if he can continue on an upward curve then he has a lot more potential than most of these rivals and looks the one to take the favourite on with.
The likes of Cold Sobar and Della Casa Lunga are another brace of contenders that have some winning form in the book, but they are unlikely to trouble Captain Teague, who should prevail with aplomb, but Resplendent Grey is certainly the each-way bet of the race at double-figured odds.
