03-Nov-2008

Pettifour is worth a mention following his victory in the three-mile hurdle at Wetherby on Saturday. Mobaasher appeared to be travelling best of all between the final two flights, and traded at long odds-on in running, but actually the winner was travelling just as well before he landed flat-footed over the second last and had to be rousted a little by Paddy Brennan, which momentarily gave the impression that he wasn’t travelling well, an impression that was exacerbated by Sam Thomas’s motionless sit on the runner-up.

Mobaasher is no shrinking violet, as he demonstrated when he powered up the hill to land a three-mile hurdle at Cheltenham in April and when he ran on well to take fourth place in last season’s Pertemps Final, but Pettifour out-gunned him here, with the first three finishing well clear of the useful Liberate.

Pettifour was a really progressive novice last term, his season culminating in a game victory in the Grade 1 three-mile novices’ contest at Aintree. The staying hurdlers’ division lacks strength in-depth this year, and the son of Supreme Leader could be a leading player in it. Like the 2005 winner of Saturday’s race Inglis Drever, he is only six years old and has run just four times over hurdles. There should be much better to come, and best odds of 16/1 about him for the World Hurdle are interesting.

© The Irish Field, 3rd November, 2008