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On The Blind Side

On The Blind Side ran well to finish fourth in the Sodexo Gold Cup.  Held up early on, he made nice progress on the run to the home turn and, while it never looked like he was going to get to the leaders, he did stay on well to take fourth place.

This was a nice start back for Nicky Henderson’s horse, his seasonal debut, his first run since he finished second in a Grade 2 hurdle at Sandown’s Bet365 Gold Cup meeting in April.  He was a progressive novice hurdler two seasons ago, he won his first three hurdle races and was sent off as favourite for the Grade 1 Top Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree in April 2018, ahead of Lostintranslation and Black Op.  He was a bit disappointing last season as a novice chaser, he was pulled up in the RSA Chase, but he did beat Bet365 Gold Cup winner Talkischeap in a novices’ chase at Kempton in January.

He obviously has talent, and he could be dangerously handicapped now on a mark of 149.  He is only seven, and he has run just four times over fences, so he has lots of scope for progression. In general, his best runs have been right-handed, at Sandown and Ascot and Kempton, but he did win a Grade 2 hurdle at Cheltenham’s November meeting as a novice hurdler, so it may be that he is able to go left-handed as well.  He will be of interest if he takes his chance in the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury, and he will also be of interest if and when he goes back right-handed later in the season.

Ascot, 2nd November 2019