Tanks For That

Tanks For That put up a tremendous effort behind Woolcombe Folly, the new kid on the two-mile chasing block, in the Class 2 Jenny Mould Memorial Handicap Chase at Cheltenham on Saturday. He raced handily behind a strong early pace, and was kicked into the lead at the top of the hill, plenty early enough. He travelled well down the hill and had everything in trouble except for the winner. Even when he was joined, he kept on well, ultimately going down by six lengths, leading until just before the last, the front pair well clear of the rest. The winner posted a time that was faster than the time that Master Minded clocked in winning the Tingle Creek Chase over the same course and distance later in the day when I’m So Lucky and Petit Robin ensured a decent pace.

Tanks For That is clearly best at two miles as this was a personal best by some margin. Having been tried over as far as three miles last term, he should be kept to the minimum distance for his next few runs as this run showed he is capable of winning a big handicap chase over two miles. Even though he has been raised 7lb for this effort, that hike still underestimates what he achieved here by some margin. Woolcombe Folly is now being talked about as a live Champion Chase contender; take him out of this race and you have a wide margin winner of a competitive race featuring some in-form rivals. There is surely a fair bit of mileage in his new mark of 142 judged on this superb run combined with his first few runs over fences as a novice when he looked like a high-class prospect. He seems very much back on track, he jumped soundly here, so hopefully his jumping frailties are behind him. He is at his best on goodish ground, but he handled soft ground well when just beaten by his stable companion You're The Top at Huntingdon last February, and he will be of big interest wherever he runs next, hopefully in a big two-mile handicap chase.

11th December 2010

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