Meeting - The Open -
Friday, Saturday & Sunday November 16, 17 & 18
First race - 1.15pm
Friday, 12.45pm Saturday, 1.10pm Sunday - gates open 10am Friday &
Saturday, 11.00am Sunday
Orphee Des Blins, the emphatic winner of
this year's Velka Pardubicka, features among 21 entries for the £25,000
Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeplechase (3pm), one of the highlights of the
first day of The Open, Countryside Day, Friday, November 16.
The 10-year-old mare gave
trainer Greg Wroblewski and jockey Jan Faltejsek the biggest successes of their
careers as she made all for a decisive 16-length victory in the famous
steeplechase at Pardubice in the Czech Republic on October 13.
She is set to try and
become the first winner of both the Velka Pardubicka and the Glenfarclas Cross
Country Steeplechase following a pair of agonising near misses for
Czech-trained horses at Cheltenham. Peruan was beaten a neck at The Open in
1997, while Registana took the wrong course when clear of the field at the same
meeting in 2004.
Wroblewski revealed:
"Orphee Des Blins is hopefully heading over to Britain on Tuesday evening.
She is fine at the moment - she took her race in the Velka Pardubicka very well
and recovered very quickly. I hope that she is in similar form and I hope that
she can run well.
"She won two shorter
races very easily in the summer before we ran her over 5,800m (3m 5f) for her
qualification race for the Velka Pardubicka in August. She was only third in
that race, but we weren't sure about her staying the trip so I told the jockey
to see if she could get home.
"I wasn't sure
whether she would cope with the soft ground in the Velka Pardubicka because her
other starts this season had been on a faster surface. The Velka Pardubicka is
run on a very unique course - the grass was fine but the fields were very
heavy.
"The most important thing
in the Velka Pardubicka was Jan Faltejsek. He let Orphee Des Blins jump and
gave her a long rein, so she could hold a rhythm throughout the whole race. She
was able to go her own pace and it was a great day for us.
"We had a little bit
of a dilemma as to whether we would bring her to Britain. We could have
finished her season after the Velka Pardubicka with a glorious victory and it
is bit of a risk to bringing her over to Cheltenham in case she doesn't run to
the same form, but it is an interesting proposition.
"I have had runners
in many countries but this will be my first runner in Britain. Chyszow
was a star for me in Scandinavia - he won every race there and a Listed Hurdle
at Baden Baden before running in the Breeders' Cup Steeplechase and the
Colonial Cup in America in 1988.
"I never take horses
anywhere where I don't think that they have a chance and I love to win, rather
than just participate in races. The level of racing in Britain and Ireland is
very high and has been out of my reach until now.
"Orphee Des Blins has
beaten a couple of British and Ireland horses in the Velka Pardubicka and she
set a quick time in the conditions, so I thought it was fair to give her a
chance. I can remember Galileo coming over from Poland and winning at the Cheltenham
Festival in 2002, so nothing is impossible."
The entries for the
Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeplechase also include Uncle Junior, who
captured this race at The Open in 2011 and was sixth behind Orphee Des Blins in
the Velka Pardubicka.
Enda Bolger, the Irish
cross country specialist, has entered Doctor Pat and Arabella Boy,
while the two previous winners of the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase
at The Festival, Sizing Australia (2011) and Balthazar King (2012),
could also return to Cheltenham.
A six-race card on
Countryside Day also features the two-mile £45,000 Paddypower.com Handicap
Chase (1.50pm), which has attracted 21 entries including the Paul
Nicholls-trained Toubab, who was second to Sprinter Sacre in the Grade
One John Smith's Maghull Novices' Chase at Aintree in April.
The 14 entries for the
£25,000 Grade Two Opus Energy Novices' Hurdle (2.25pm) over an extended two
miles include Dodging Bullets, an impressive winner of the Masterson
Holdings Hurdle at The Showcase, and the Nicky Henderson-trained trio of River
Maigue, My Tent Or Yours and Close Touch.
Grade One victor Fingal
Bay, who made a winning debut over fences at Chepstow on October 13, is
among 15 contenders for the opening £20,000 Steel Plate And Sections Novices' Chase
(1.15pm). Grade Two Rewards4Racing Cleeve Hurdle runner-up Dynaste could
make his debut over fences in the extended two and a half-mile contest.
The action is completed by
the £12,000 Bates Hats Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle (3.35pm, 63 entries)
and the £20,000 Irish Times Amateur Riders' Handicap Chase (4.05pm, 25
entries).
GROUND
The Going at Cheltenham is
currently:
Chase & Hurdle Courses
- Good to Soft, Good in Places
Cross Country Course -
Good to Soft, Soft in Places
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