Torpillo

Torpillo ran a big race to finish a close-up third behind Quel Destin and Soviet Pimpernel in the four-year-olds’ hurdle. Nigel Twiston-Davies’ horse raced towards the outside early on in the race, but he jumped to his left, and he found himself on the inside from the top of the hill, probably on the worst of the ground. By contrast, the winner and runner-up both raced around the outside, probably on the better ground. Even so, Torpillo travelled well into the home straight, and he looked a likely winner when he kicked on in front, and put two lengths between himself and Quel Destin. He was still in front at the final flight and, although he appeared to tire from there, and ceded places to Quel Destin and Soviet Pimpernel racing towards the far side, he still kept on bravely all the way to the line to go down by a total of just over a length, in a race that was run in a good comparative time.

This was a fine run by Torpillo. He was beaten narrowly here by a prolific rival of Paul Nicholls’ in Quel Destin, last year’s Finale Hurdle winner, and a talented and progressive horse of Peter Fahey’s in Soviet Pimpernel, while probably racing on the worst of the ground through the latter stages of the race. He won his first two races last season as a juvenile, both on soft ground at Sandown, making all in both, before disappointing on better ground in the Victor Ludorum Hurdle at Haydock. He was impressive again in winning on his debut this season at Chepstow, again on soft ground, and it may be that he needs soft ground to be seen at his best. The handicapper dropped him by 3lb to a mark of 145, and he would be of interest in a good two-mile soft-ground handicap off that type of mark.

Cheltenham, 26^th October 2019