Double Ross will bid for a rare hat-trick of handicap
successes at Cheltenham in the £50,000 freebets.com Trophy Chase (1.50pm, 19
entries) over two miles and five furlongs on Festival Trials Day, Saturday,
January 25.
The
Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained eight-year-old captured the valuable Grade Three
Stewart Family Thank You Gold Cup at The International in December and followed
that up with decisive four and a half-length victory in the Grade Three
Fairlawne Handicap Chase over the same course and distance on New Year's Day.
Twiston-Davies
reported: "Double Ross has been in really good form and is an intended
runner in the freebets.com Trophy Chase.
"I
was happy with his performance last time and I thought he was very good - he is
a good horse in soft ground.
"I
think soft ground just inconveniences him less than others and I would imagine
it will be pretty soft on Saturday, so we will be going there very hopeful.
"We
will see how he gets on at the weekend before making a decision about where he
goes at The Festival, but the ground will be a factor."
The 19
entries also include course specialist Champion Court (Martin Keighley),
2012 Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up The Giant Bolster (David
Bridgwater) and Rajdhani Express (Nicky Henderson), a winner at The
Festival last year. Champion Court and The Giant Bolster are also engaged in
the feature £100,000 Grade Two Argento Chase (2.25pm, 12 entries).
Kruzhlinin
(Donald McCain) could also go for a third consecutive victory after two wins at
Kelso, while multiple Grade Two winner Wishfull Thinking (Philip Hobbs)
and Irish challenger Rupert Lamb (Willie Mullins) are also engaged.
About
Festival Trials Day
Many of
the horses that run on Festival Trials Day are having their final preparation
before The Festival and it is rare that this meeting does not feature at least
one subsequent Festival winner. In 2013, two horses found themselves in the
winner's enclosure on both Festival Trials Day and The Festival itself,
Sprinter Sacre and At Fishers Cross.
Festival
Trials Day is a great opportunity to see Jump racing's superstars and
experience the excitement as The Festival draws closer. Even better, it takes
place on a Saturday so there is no need to take a day off to enjoy a visit to
The Home of Jump Racing.
The
gates open at 10.30am with the first of seven races at 12.40pm and the last
race due off at 4.10pm.
The
seven-race card features four Grade Two contests - the JCB Triumph Hurdle
Trial, the Argento Chase, the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle and
the galliardhomes.com Cleeve Hurdle.
Complementing
the four Grade Two contests are three competitive handicaps - the Grade Three
freebets.com Trophy Handicap Chase, the Timeform Novices' Handicap Chase and
the Steel Plate & Sections Handicap Hurdle.
The
Festival, which takes place on four days between Tuesday, March 11 and Friday,
March 14, is the next racing at Cheltenham.
About
Cheltenham Racecourse
Cheltenham
Racecourse is situated in Prestbury on the outskirts of the historic spa town
of Cheltenham. The Home of Jump Racing, Cheltenham Racecourse is the venue for
the world's pre-eminent Jump Racing meeting, The Festival, which takes place in
March every year. Set against the beautiful backdrop of the Cotswolds,
Cheltenham Racecourse is a stunning natural amphitheatre and offers the highest-quality
action throughout the Jump season.
Cheltenham
has been voted Britain's Racecourse of the Year for the last 10 years by
members of the Racegoers Club. Between 1972 and 2013, there have been 41
Racecourse of the Year Awards voted for by Racegoers Club members and
Cheltenham Racecourse has achieved the top accolade on 19 occasions.
Please
find more details at www.cheltenham.co.uk and
through Twitter (@CheltenhamRaces) and Facebook www.facebook.com/thehomeofjumpracing
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