Thyme Hill

Thyme Hill put up a good performance to win the Grade 2 Persian War Hurdle on his hurdling bow. Settled nicely by Richard Johnson in fifth place early on, he moved up in behind the leaders at the third last flight and, while the leaders got away from him a little there, and while it looked like the leader Fiddlerontheroof was travelling better at the second last, he picked up well on the run to the last, and he stayed on strongly up the run-in to go on and win by two lengths, with another two lengths back to Some Day Soon in third.

This was a good performance by Philip Hobbs’ horse. As well as making his debut over hurdles, this was also his first run since March. He was third in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham then, when he raced towards the inside, probably on the worst of the ground, yet he still managed to keep on well enough to take third place behind the highly talented pair Envoi Allen and Blue Sari. That was just his third run in a bumper, and this was just his fourth run under all codes, so he has plenty of scope for progression. He stayed the near-two-and-a-half-mile trip well on Friday, clocking a decent time, and his trainer said afterwards that he will probably stay over two and a half miles now. He could take a high rank among this season’s novice hurdlers.

Chepstow, 11^th October 2019