Beat The Boys

Beat The Boys produced a much better run than his finishing position suggests in the competitive listed handicap chase won by Midnight Chase at Cheltenham on Friday. Nigel Twiston-Davies’s horse is usually a horse that is ridden prominently in front, but he just seemed to be a bit caught out at the start here and he ended up missing the break. Timmy Murphy had to niggle him along to get to the front, which wasn’t ideal as he had to do a lot of running around the outside just to get up to challenge Midnight Chase, whereas that horse enjoyed a solo on the rail in front for the early part of the race. But the son of Portrait Gallery still travelled and jumped well when he got upsides the leader and he was still there with every chance coming down the hill, and going around the home turn. He just got tired up the hill, when his early exertions began to tell, and he eventually faded to finish seventh.

Beat The Boys deserves a lot of credit for running as well as he did, and he may be a well-handicapped horse, it was around this time last season that he won the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle off a mark 140. He was running here off a mark of 141, and the handicapper has actually dropped him another 2lb for this effort. He will be a better horse on softer ground through the winter, and he is probably better off when in a smaller field (he has won five times and finished in the first three three times in nine races against 10 rivals or fewer, and he has only finished in the first three once, when he won, in 15 races against 11 rivals or more.) He should be worth following now, and he could be significantly underrated in another decent event next time, especially if he is faced with fewer than 10 rivals.

10th December 2010

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