Meeting -
The Festival, Dates - Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, March 12 - 15
First
race - 1.30pm each day
Tickets
available from www.cheltenham.co.uk or by calling 08445 793 003
ROCK ON
RUBY "BIGGER AND STRONG" AS HE ATTEMPTS BACK-TO-BACK SUCCESS
Defending champion Rock
On Ruby (10/1 with the sponsor) is one of four previous winners among 34
entries for this year's Grade One Stan James Champion Hurdle, the feature race
on day one of The Festival, Champion Day, Tuesday, March 12. The race is worth
a record £400,000.
Harry Fry's stable star scored by three and three quarter lengthsin last
season's Stan James Champion Hurdle, when trained by Paul Nicholls, and made an
encouraging return for his new handler when chasing home Zarkandar (7/1)
and Grandouet (7/1) in the Grade Two StanJames.com International Hurdle
at Cheltenham in December.
Fry said: "Rock On Ruby is still very much on course for the Stan
James Champion Hurdle.
"He is all set for a
prep run at either Sandown on February 2 (Contenders Hurdle) or at Wincanton on
February 16 (Kingwell Hurdle), weather permitting, as I'm not sure what the
winter is going to bring next. He is not going to run on heavy ground between now
and Cheltenham. If the ground is decent, he will have a prep run but if not, he
will have a racecourse gallop instead.
"He is in great form at the moment and his run in the International
has brought him on a ton - I am very pleased with him. Noel (Fehily) felt he
was on the winner the whole way at Cheltenham. He travelled like the best horse
in the race but the lack of a recent run at that level in those conditions
counted against him turning in and over the last.
"I think he will have had to have improved since last year's
Champion Hurdle to win this year's race but he has improved and is much bigger
and stronger. My assistant Ciara O'Connor, who rides Rock On Ruby everyday, has
been saying that all season and Noel felt exactly the same after the run in
December."
Lambourn trainer Nicky Henderson has annexed five Stan James Champion
Hurdles - the most of any current trainer - and he holds a formidable hand with
eight entries consisting of two Stan James Champion Hurdle heroes in 2010
victor Binocular (25/1) and 2009 hero Punjabi (40/1), as well as
Grade One scorers Darlan (4/1), Oscar Whisky (16/1), Khyber
Kim (100/1), Cash And Go (50/1)and Grandouet, plus General Miller
(66/1). Stan James make Henderson a 7/4 chance to train this year's winner.
Nicholls, the seven-time champion trainer, is responsible for 2011 JCB
Triumph Hurdle victor Zarkandar and lightly-raced five-year-old Pearl Swan (50/1),
while Donald McCain's possible representatives include last year's runner-up Overturn
(66/1), Peddlers Cross (40/1) and 2012 William Hill Supreme Novices'
Hurdle scorer Cinders And Ashes (18/1).
The 10 potential Irish challengers are led by 13-time Grade One winner Hurricane
Fly, trained by Irish champion Willie Mullins, who enjoyed victory over
Peddlers Cross in the 2011 Stan James Champion Hurdle but could only finish
third when odds-on favourite last year. He is the 7/2 market leader with Stan
James following three wins from three starts since.
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