SPONSOR
ANDY STEWART SET TO BE DOUBLY-REPRESENTED IN £100,000 HANDICAP CHASE
Meeting: The International
Dates: Friday &
Saturday - December 14 & 15
Gates Open: 10am both days
First Race: 12.15pm
Friday, 12.10pm Saturday
Paddy Power Gold Cup
runner-up Walkon and progressive novice chaser Unioniste head 23
five-day confirmations for the £100,000 Paul Stewart IronSpine Charity
Challenge Gold Cup (2.30pm) on day two of The International at Cheltenham,
Saturday, December 15.
Walkon is set to bid for
compensation at Cheltenham after going down by three lengths to Al Ferof in the
highlight of The Open. The Alan King-trained seven-year-old was fifth in the
RSA Chase at The Festival in March and was runner-up in the JCB Triumph Hurdle
at the 2009 Festival.
Unioniste ran well in
defeat at The Open as well, coming home third behind Dynaste in the Steel Plate
and Sections Novices' Chase and Paul Nicholls' charge could bid to become the
first four-year-old to capture the Paul Stewart IronSpine Charity Challenge
Gold Cup. The previous youngest winner was five-year-old The Laird in 1966.
John Hales, owner of
Unioniste who has the lowest weight of 9st 8lb and is currently set to carry
the 10st minimum, said today: "Unioniste is in the novices' chase on
Friday but our preferred option for him is the Paul Stewart IronSpine Charity
Challenge Gold Cup.
"I thought he ran an
excellent race behind Dynaste last time and we have no hesitation in running
him in this race because he jumps like a veteran.
"I would be quite
confident of a big run and if the ground is on the soft side that won't bother
him either being by Dom Alco."
Nicholls may also be
represented in the two mile, five furlong handicap chase by Cristal Bonus,
an easy winner of a Grade Two chase at Down Royal on November 3, and Ghizao,
who is part-owned by race-sponsor the Stewart Family.
Ghizao, a Grade Two winner
over fences at Cheltenham who was sixth in this race 12 months ago, returned to
action with a facile victory in a graduation chase at Kempton Park on November
5 prior to coming home third in the Grade Two Amlin 1965 Chase at Ascot on
November 24.
Tatenen was one place behind
Ghizao in last year's Paul Stewart IronSpine Charity Challenge Gold Cup and the
eight-year-old is also set to carry the Stewart Family colours on his seasonal
return in Saturday's race.
The Richard Rowe-trained
eight-year-old has posted a pair of major handicap victories at Ascot over the
past two seasons and unseated Andrew Thornton on his most recent start in the
John Smith's Grand National at Aintree in April.
Andy Stewart revealed:
"Tatenen and Ghizao will both run in the Paul Stewart IronSpine Charity
Challenge Gold Cup.
"Ghizao is very
difficult to place off 155 and we were thinking of going to the Peterborough
Chase with him but (co-owner) David Johnson and myself thought it would be
better to go to Cheltenham.
"He ran well in a
good race last time and has come on for that. He was a superb novice who lost
his way a little bit but let's see if we can get him back on track.
"Tatenen is
absolutely fine and his main aim will be trying to win the Victor Chandler
handicap at Ascot in January for the third year in a row. We did have him in
the Hennessy Gold Cup but when it came up bottomless we thought we could come
for my race at Cheltenham.
"Andrew Thornton will
ride and I think Richard is quite optimistic. As long as the ground isn't
bottomless, it will be fine for him."
Nicky Henderson has his
string in superb form and the trainer is responsible for the Paddy Power Gold
Cup third Nadiya De La Vega and last season's Paul Stewart IronSpine
Charity Challenge Gold Cup victor Quantitativeeasing.
Other notable
confirmations include Notus De La Tour, a Grade One runner-up in Ireland
for David Pipe, last season's Pulteney Land Investments Novices' Handicap Chase
hero Hunt Ball and the Philip Hobbs-trained pair of Wishfull Thinking
and Menorahm who top with 11st 12lb and 11st 10lb respectively.
Saturday's seven-race card
starts with the two mile, one furlong £20,000 JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial
(12.10pm) for which 10 juveniles have been entered including the Paul
Nicholls-trained Far West, who was a ready winner of the Grade Two JCB
Triumph Hurdle Trial at The Open.
Our Father also produced an impressive
display at The Open, taking the Rewards4Racing Novices' Chase by 20 lengths,
and the David Pipe-trained six-year-old features among 14 entries for the
£20,000 Ryman Stationery Novices' Chase (12.45pm) over an extended three miles
and one furlong.
Coneygree, successful for Mark
Bradstock in the Grade Two Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle victor
at The Open, could return to Cheltenham for the three-mile £25,000 Grade Two
Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle (1.55pm, 13 entries).
Nicky Henderson has won
three of the last 10 renewals of the £30,000 Jenny Mould Memorial Handicap
Chase (1.20pm, 17 entries) and the trainer could aim to enhance his enviable
record in the extended two-mile contest withJohnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase
Challenge Cup second Tanks For That.
The two mile, one furlong
£130,000 Grade Two StanJames.com International (3.05pm), which is set to
feature the seasonal return of last season's Stan James Champion Hurdle victor Rock
On Ruby, and the £40,000 Grade Two Unicoin Homes Relkeel Hurdle (3.40pm)
over an extended two and a half miles have both re-opened until 11.00am
tomorrow.
Day one of The
International on Friday, December 14, features the £45,000 Grade Three
Majordomo Hospitality Handicap Chase (1.55pm) and the £35,000 Glenfarclas Cross
Country Handicap Steeple Chase (2.30pm).
GOING
The going at Cheltenham is
currently:
SOFT, GOOD TO SOFT IN
PLACES on
the Chase, Hurdle & Cross Country Courses
Simon Claisse, Head of
Racing at Cheltenham, said today: "The going is currently good, good to
soft in places on all three courses. Frost covers have been deployed on both
the Chase and Hurdle courses and also on vulnerable areas of the Cross Country
course.
"The forecast for the
next three days is for daytime temperatures to get to around plus two or plus
three degrees Celsius, with overnight temperatures of minus five degrees
Celsius.
"It should then pick
up on Thursday with only a slight frost forecast for Thursday night into Friday.
On Friday morning, rain is predicted with between 10 and 12 millimetres the
current estimate. It should then be brighter on Friday afternoon.
"No frost is forecast
for Friday night into Saturday and Saturday should see daytime temperatures of
up to plus eight degrees Celsius, with the odd shower around."
Twitter: @CheltenhamRaces
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thehomeofjumpracing
THE PAUL
STEWART IronSpine CHARITY CHALLENGE GOLD CUP
Class 1,
Grade 3, £100,000 Total Prize Fund. 2.30pm, Cheltenham, Saturday,
December 15, 2012. For 4yo+, 2m 5f. Penalties: after November 2, a winner of a
chase 5lb (no penalty to increase a horse's weight above 11st 12lb). Entries
closed November 27, entries revealed November 28 (36 entries), weights
revealed December 5. Five-day confirmation stage December 10 (23 remain),
final 48-hour declaration stage 10.00am, December 13. Form figures supplied by
Weatherbys and are correct up to and including the racing of Sunday, December
9.
Form
Horse Age/Wgt Owner Trainer
6F25-21 WISHFULL
THINKING 9-11-12 Diana fWhateley Philip Hobbs
1F314-3 MENORAH
(IRE) 7-11-10 Diana Whateley Philip Hobbs
11113-P HUNT
BALL (IRE) 7-11-07 Anthony Knott Keiran Burke
0/11P2-1 CRISTAL
BONUS (FR) 6-11-07 Robin Geffen Paul Nicholls
2/460-13 GHIZAO
(GER) 8-11-05 The Johnson & Stewart Families Paul Nicholls
02105-P QUANTITATIVEEASING
(IRE) 7-11-03 J P McManus Nicky Henderson
1345P-2 WALKON
(FR) 7-10-12 McNeill Family Alan King
00/015U- TATENEN
(FR) 8-10-11 The Stewart Family Richard Rowe
06050-6 TARTAK
(FR) 9-10-09 Power Panels Electrical Systems Ltd Tim Vaughan
03/10-13 NADIYA
DE LA VEGA (FR) 6-10-09 J P McManus Nicky Henderson
21021-4 ASTRACAD
(FR) 6-10-08 Raymond Mould Nigel Twiston-Davies
11323F- NOTUS
DE LA TOUR (FR)
6-10-08 D Bradshaw, J
Dale, P Deal, J Smee, W Walsh David Pipe
124-5P6 MICHEAL
FLIPS (IRE) 8-10-06 Martin Tedham Andy Turnell
F/4010F- QUISCOVER
FONTAINE (FR) 8-10-05 J P McManus Willie Mullins IRE
51PP-343 RENARD
(FR) 7-10-04 ROA Arkle Partnership Venetia Williams
313-51P GOLDEN
CHIEFTAIN (IRE) 7-10-02 Brocade Racing Colin Tizzard
3U040-0 DIVERS
(FR) 8-10-02 Let's Live Racing Ferdy Murphy
03602-3 DE
BOITRON (FR) 8-10-01 Mrs J Morgan & Lindsey Shaw Ferdy Murphy
F-211FP KINGSMERE
7-10-01 Hamer & Hawkes Henry Daly
305330
IMPERIAL SHABRA (IRE) 8-10-01 Rita Shah Oliver Brady IRE
P00P0-2 HELL'S
BAY (FR) 10-9-13 A G Fear & A J Norman Keiran Burke
P/12432/-
HAVE YOU SEEN ME (IRE) 9-9-09 The Maple Hurst Partnership Nigel
Twiston-Davies
165-113 UNIONISTE
(FR) 4-9-08 John Hales Paul Nicholls
23
five-day confirmations
2 Irish-trained 
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