Rory’s Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase tips:
Gerri Colombe
The Real Whacker
Ramillies
The Cheltenham Festival 2023 is edging ever closer and, with the off slowly looming in to view, we’ve got jump jockey icon turned tactical guru Ruby Walsh and top pundit Rory Delargy with us every week to hopefully get you more bang for your buck.
The second race on day two of the 2023 Festival is the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase and the lads have been looking at the early markets to hopefully send you off into the night with a winner. Gerri Colombe is a handsomely-priced favourite at the of writing but can anyone cause an upset and who’s looking good each-way value? Here’s Rory’s verdict.
Rory Delargy: Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase
I was watching Gerri Colombe’s last race at Sandown on the big screen at the Dublin Racing Festival and I really liked his performance. I didn’t think he was massively impressive going into that race and there looked to be a little trouble around the home bend. I don’t think Jordan Gainford would have ridden him over fences too often, although Hewick should be mentioned. Sandown’s a track that takes a little bit of knowledge and he just maybe had gotten himself into the wrong position around the home turn but I may be being a little harsh.
I just love the way he finished it, he’s a horse who would prefer softer ground and a longer trip. I like the way he’s being brought along through his career. He was drilled to win a point-to-point and was very impressive starting out over bad ground when starting off in bumpers.
He’s been brought along more gradually than some of Gordon Elliot’s previous stars but he looks like a proper, old-fashioned Gold Cup type of horse. He reminds me of Jodami a little bit.
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I love the way he had his ears pricked almost for the whole race except for when Jordan Gainford asked him for a big stride at the Railway fences. He looked to be thinking: ‘he shouldn’t be asking me for a big stride here’ and just did his own thing.
He was clever there, he lost a little bit of ground but he did the right thing. He might have gotten away with throwing in an extravagant leap, but you don’t want to be taking chances there. You want to be hitting those fences in rhythm.
It’s all about the horse’s stride and he probably wasn’t at the right stride, so Jordan had to ask him to up it after the previous jump. But it meant that he was stretching all the way. That put him into a slightly difficult position and it looked like he might’ve gotten boxed in on the bend. However, when he pulled wide he was always going to get there in the finish and I like the way he got to the line.
He had his ears pricked throughout, he still seems to be learning a bit about the game, but his attitude is really, really good. His jumping is excellent and he reminds me of an old-fashioned, proper chaser. He’s not super fast through the air but he’s all about rhythm and he gives the impression that he could gallop all day.
He’s just a tremendously-likeable horse. You could knock his form to a degree and ask, well, what has he beaten? But you just have to say he’s beaten everything put in front of him so far. The way he goes about winning is just enormously likeable and he’s just going to keep improving. He’s a really, really likeable prospect for the future.
The Real Whacker lacks the experience of the big days, but he has won twice at Cheltenham already. He’s had very little racing over hurdles though. Patrick Neville trained him in Ireland for his debut then Pat moved him over to Ann Duffy’s yard. He had to wait a bit to get his licence, so the horse ran under her name for a bit last season.
He ran very well, for example, in the River Dawn last season but clearly he’s come into his own since switching to fences. The race sort of fell apart on his chase debut but he jumped really well and battled back when he headed at the last by Indigo Breeze.
He was even more impressive when he dropped back to two and a half miles in the Dipper Novices’ Chase last time out where he comprehensively out shone some very good horses. He stays three miles well but didn’t look short of pace last time out over 2m 4f. Because he jumps so quickly he might be more effective over a shorter trip, even though he does have that requisite stamina that he has shown over hurdles. He’s very likeable.
He’s been racing in small fields, yes and we don’t know what he’ll do when he’s not dominating. He didn’t go forward last season over hurdles but he ran good races and has obviously stepped up considerably since then as a chaser so I don’t know what he’ll be like if he’s taken on for the lead and I don’t know how he’ll react to the atmosphere of the Cheltenham Festival.
So there are certainly questions there but there’s nothing wrong with his form. It’s easy to say he might be overrated and he’s gotten the run of things. But that was a really good performance in the Dipper and if you watch it back, there really aren’t that many holes in his run. It’s just this thing that if you’re looking at trends, you need to ask what do you need to do in order to put yourself into a position to win a race like the Brown Advisory.
His lack of experience at Cheltenham might work against him, some people would say but he’s doing pretty well overall. I think his price will drift, he’s the type of horse that people will try and pick holes in and he could end up being a 10/1 shot on the day.
He’s been a drifter in both of his Chases that he won at Cheltenham interestingly. He’s been very easy to back but there are some people who are yet to buy into, something like, well, he’s not sexy enough or something. But look, what he does on the track is very impressive and he deserves his place here. If you want to back him, you can afford to wait as long as possible as his price is going to drift.
Ramillies looks like a bigger contender than he would have had a few weeks ago thanks to some good runs. You mightn’t really want him making the step up here but he’s run well enough lately. Indeed, he was idling in front in his last race where he won well at Naas.
Rory’s Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase Verdict:
Verdict: I’d be going for Gerri Colombe to win. The Real Whacker and Ramillies could be ones for the places.
Rory’s Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase tips:
Gerri Colombe
The Real Whacker
Ramillies
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