29th-Dec-2017

I am a big fan of Monalee, but I don’t think that he should be an odds-on shot for this.  It is a much deeper race than that in my book.

He was a high-class staying novice hurdler last season, he beat Battleford in a Grade 3 contest at Clonmel and he finished second in the Albert Bartlett Hurdle. Also, he was impressive in winning his beginners’ chase at Punchestown.  He jumped well and he won easily.

However, his hurdles rating of 145 does not have him far clear of his rivals and, while he looked good at Punchestown, his main rival Invitation Only fell early on.  He is a classy horse, he is an exciting young staying chaser, and he may well win easily today, but at such a short price, he is a horse to take on today in my book …

Shattered Love was a progressive novice hurdler last season, but the fact that she was well beaten in the Neptune Hurdle at Cheltenham may have tarnished her reputation unfairly, as defeat at the Cheltenham Festival often does.  She didn’t jump well at Cheltenham, and it all happened a little quickly for her on goodish ground.

Sent over fences this season, Gordon Elliott’s mare has won three of her four chases, all three of them easily.  She was beaten by Jury Duty in the Grade 2 Florida Pearl novice chase at Punchestown last month, but she enhanced her reputation in defeat.

In front from the start, she battled back well after Jury Duty had passed her, and she went down by just three parts of a length in the end, with the pair of them finishing clear of Presenting Percy.

That was over two miles and six and a half furlongs.  She is stepping up to three miles today, and that gives her a chance of exacting her revenge on her stable companion.  While she has since dropped back to two miles to win a Grade 3 mares’ novices’ chase at Cork, she is all stamina, she stayed on really well at Punchestown.  She could run a big race today.

SHATTERED LOVE WON (ADV 14/1, SP 10/1)