The Tolworth Hurdle is a good marker to some of the novice events at the Cheltenham Festival and has often been a stepping stone to greater things over the years.
The contest is run at Sandown Park over a distance of 2 miles and 110 yards with a generous first prize of almost £30,000. The race was abandoned in 2009 & 2010 and in 2014 was rescheduled to Kempton.
Recent winners of the Tolworth Hurdle include Summerville Boy, Finian’s Oscar, and Yorkhill and if you search through the archives you will even find the name of Desert Orchid listed.
Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls have pretty much ruled the roost in recent years, with Nicholls winning the race on four occasions since 2000, while Henderson has saddled the winner four times in the last eight years.
Without further ado, let’s get down to the big race and horse racing bets this weekend.
Trends
- Nicky Henderson is the most successful trainer in the history of the Tolworth Hurdle and has recorded five victories - New York Rainbow (1992), Minella Class (2011), Captain Conan (2012), Royal Boy (2014) and L'Ami Serge (2015).
- Five of the last ten winners were officially rated 135 or higher.
- Six of the last ten winners have come from the top three in the betting with five favourites coming home first in that period.
- Eight of the last ten winners have either been aged five or six.
- Eight of the last ten winners had won their last race prior to running in the Tolworth
- Nine of the last ten winners had at least had one win over hurdles already.
Guide To Main Fancies
Rathill (N. Henderson)
The son of Getaway could not have been more impressive in beating his nineteen rivals with consummate ease at Newbury last time out.
The J.P McManus owned six-year-old has been backed this week like defeat is out of the question and he should be on the premises again.
Exilir De Nutz (C. Tizzard)
The Terry Warner-owned grey has been successful on his last two outings at Cheltenham, one of which was a well contested Grade 2 race.
The form of his last win has worked out particularly well as the runner-up that day, Jarveys Plate, has since scored with ease in the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle over the Christmas period.
There is no reason why the 140 rated five-year-old should not be in the thick of things again on Saturday afternoon.
Grand Sancy (P. Nicholls)
It’s now 11 years since the Ditcheat handler last won the Tolworth Hurdle and his best chance looks to be with the five-year-old Grand Sancy.
The gelding has already raced five times this season but keeps maintaining a high level of form. Grand Sancy landed a listed novice at Haydock and then followed it up by placing fourth in the Betfair Exchange Trophy at Ascot.
Overall he sets a decent benchmark and the others will need to be on their absolute A-game or else this lad will cash in.
Southfield Stone (P. Nicholls)
Paul Nicholls’ second entry Southfield Stone is a horse on an upward curve and won with plenty in hand last time.
This race however will be his toughest yet and is a far cry from Taunton where he has won a bumper and two novice hurdles this season.
Bright Forecast (B. Pauling)
The Ben Pauling-trained Bright Forecast will make it a hat-trick of win this term if he takes the Tolworth all in his stride.
The five-year-old, who carries the colours of the late Nick Embiricos, was the winner of a decent Newbury hurdle then followed that up by scoring in the Tap 'N' Shower Novices' Hurdle at Leicester when going off the 11/8 favourite, making all the running.
Espirit Du Large (E. Williams)
The Mr and Mrs Rucker owned five-year-old ran out an impressive eleven-length winner of a maiden hurdle at Uttoxeter in December, showing a great turn of foot.
Somewhat of an unknown quantity in this but Williams and The Rucker’s have been landing quite a few winners together recently.
Muratello (N. Twiston-Davies)
The Munir/Souede French import Muratello was in the process of running a big race at Haydock Park last Sunday when the race was abruptly stopped and was declared void in the home straight.
Prior to coming over to the UK, the five-year-old had some decent form at Auteuil and could be somewhat of a dark horse in the betting.
SUMMARY
Nicky Henderson originally had four horses entered up for this contest but the likelihood of that quartet all crossing swords looks extremely unlikely and he will probably have just one sole runner on the actual day.
That runner looks highly likely to be Rathill and he will be seeking to provide Henderson with his sixth victory in the Tolworth Hurdle.
At an each-way price it may be worth siding with the Nigel Twiston-Davies trained Muratello. Many pundits who were in attendance at Haydock last week (including myself) believe this horse would have won and was also going to clock up a reasonable time in doing so.
888sport suggests: Muratello e/w.
*Odds subject to change - correct at time of writing*
