Superb Story

Superb Story put up a really nice performance to finish second behind Old Guard in the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham on Sunday.

Settled back in the field through the early stages of the race by Harry Skelton, he made nice progress from the top of the hill and he travelled well down it on the run to the third last.  As they approached the second last flight, he and the winner were the only two horses who were still on the bridle but, as Old Guard went wide and came near side in the home straight, Superb Story moved to his left and found himself out towards the centre of the course on the run-in, which wasn’t ideal.  Old Guard had the stands rail to help him, and he was also probably on the best of the ground.  Even so, Superb Story ran on well up the hill all the way to the line to get to within two lengths of the winner, with the pair of them pulling four lengths clear of Waxies Dargle in third.

This was a really good run from Dan Skelton’s horse.  It wasn’t ideal, as it turned out, that he raced towards the rear, given that the early pace was not strong, but he made his ground nicely and he finished off his race well. This looked like a good race beforehand, it was full of unexposed young hurdlers, some of the right horses were involved in the finish and the winning time was good, 0.14secs/furlong faster than Racing Post par, despite the sedate early pace.

Superb Story is only four and this was just his sixth race over hurdles.  Well below the top juvenile hurdlers last season, his two runs this term have been the two best of his life.  9lb higher here than when winning on his seasonal debut at Wetherby in October, it will be interesting to see how the handicapper reacts to this performance when he re-assesses him next week, but he is so progressive that he should be able to cope with a fair hike.  He probably doesn’t want very soft ground, but the fact that he has proven that he can operate at Cheltenham now is an obvious asset.

15^th November 2015