Cheltenham Festival Long-shots: Hunters Ploy - National Hunt Chase - Wednesday March 17

/ Will Hayler / 02 March 2010 / Leave a Comment

If Hunters Ploy bulldozes the opposition as he did at Exeter last autumn, then those who dare to back him now will be celebrating on day two at Cheltenham, says Will Hayler.

There are dark horses, unknown quantities and then there is Hunters Ploy. He can be backed at [32.0] to win the National Hunt Chase and heads to Cheltenham having made just one appearance over fences under Rules and a grand total of five outings in the eight years of his life, if you count an Irish point-to-point win nearly three years ago.

But it was the way he bulldozed his rivals in a four-runner novice chase at Exeter last October that left an indelible impression that this is a horse who could go to be smart.

His career seemed to go off the rails for Nigel Twiston-Davies last season, where after a promising enough win over hurdles on his British debut, he then flopped twice afterwards. Whether it was the extra emphasis on stamina, the move up to steeplechasing or the switch to join Ian Williams' stable afterwards that worked the trick is unclear, but it was nevertheless impressive to watch as Hunters Ploy pulled steadily clear.

Clearly not straightforward having been off the track ever since, Williams has admitted that he would have preferred to have got another race into him before Cheltenham, but he clearly can go well fresh and the fact that the trainer describes him as "my future Welsh National horse" suggests that he is expected to relish the move into unknown territory over four miles.