Handicappers' Corner: Wily old Wylie!

Timeform Debate / Phil Turner / 09 January 2012 / Leave a Comment

Hold Fast impressed on Saturday.

"Hold Fast's seven-length defeat of All For Free (c125) at Sandown makes for impressive reading when one considers the runner-up had won his two most recent starts."

"Less is more - quality not quantity" suddenly seems to be the motto of big-spending owner Graham Wylie, and the early signs suggest this new policy is already reaping dividends according to Timeform Jumps Handicapper Phil Turner.

Wylie, of course, opted to dramatically downscale his bloodstock operation last summer following the disqualification of his former trainer, the now-retired Howard Johnson, on animal cruelty charges. Having slashed that string by approximately 75%, Wylie severed ties with his beloved North-East when choosing where to send the handful of horses he's retained, instead plumping to relocate with the champion trainers in Britain and Ireland, Paul Nicholls and Willie Mullins.

"We're having horses in better races, and we're having Saturday runners now," enthused Wylie after his colours were carried to a runaway success by the Nicholls-trained Hold Fast (Timeform rating c147+) in a useful two-mile handicap chase at Sandown this weekend.

Referring to his latter years with Johnson, the owner continued: "So often, we were having winners at Sedgefield or Carlisle, and they were winning with their heads in their chest, and we were going to Cheltenham and getting beaten. We were going to Cheltenham with false hopes."

A tilt at the Queen Mother Champion Chase with Hold Fast may fall into the latter category at this stage, though it's worth noting that the currently-injured Master Minded (Timeform rating c171) ran to a Timeform rating just 2 lb higher when winning the same Sandown race in 2008 en route to landing Wednesday's showpiece event at the Cheltenham Festival some ten weeks later. In addition, Hold Fast is clearly much improved for his new yard, having already bettered his peak 2010/11 Timeform rating for Johnson by 11 lb.

Hold Fast's seven-length defeat of All For Free (c125) at Sandown makes for impressive reading when one considers the runner-up had won his two most recent starts, whilst the presence of top weight Tanks For That (c150) a further short head away in third adds further value to the form given his win at Cheltenham in November came in just about the strongest two-mile handicap chase staged so far this season. The chances are Hold Fast will prove ideally suited by further in time, but a well-run two miles clearly holds no fears for him and, although a hike in the weights is certain, he'll be a live contender for the Grand Annual Chase should connections decide to keep him in handicap company for now.

Although Wylie was out of luck with his two other Nicholls-trained runners later on Sandown's card, both of them have also benefited from their change of scenery already this season. The Knoxs (h145, c139), for example, found some 22 lb worth of improvement to make a winning reappearance over hurdles in November, whilst he also shaped well for a long way behind Alan King's progressive ex-hunter Hold On Julio (c143p) in the valuable staying handicap chase at Sandown - though the manner in which he folded late on does hint at a physical problem rather than stamina deficiencies.

Prospect Wells (h143), meanwhile, flopped when only fourth of five behind Nicky Henderson's French import Captain Conan (h136) and Philip Hobbs' wayward runner-up Colour Squadron (h138+) in the Tolworth Hurdle on Saturday, though the decision to run in the Sandown race was very much an afterthought and he's better judged on his previous form - particularly as he'll be seen to much better advantage in a truly-run large-field affair such as the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham. Indeed, it is worth remembering that Wylie's sole previous winner of that race, the Johnson-trained Arcalis, flopped on his final prep run prior to springing a 20/1 surprise in the Festival opener in 2005.

If anything, Wylie has an even bigger chance of Cheltenham Festival novice glory with the Mullins-trained Boston Bob (h148p), who is prominent in the ante-post betting for both the Neptune Novices' Hurdle and Albert Bartlett Spa Hurdle having created a good impression when winning two out of two starts over hurdles for his new yard. Although Boston Bob won his sole start for Johnson in a Hexham bumper, he left that form well behind to claim his most recent hurdling win, in the Grade 1 Navan Novices' Hurdle last month. Fourth-placed Jetson (h139) has already franked the form by winning the Pertemps Qualifier at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting since, and Boston Bob is well worth his position as Timeform's highest-rated Irish-trained novice hurdler of 2011/12 so far.

The biggest prize on the National Hunt calendar, of course, is the Grand National and Wylie could have a live contender for that race with another Mullins inmate, Prince de Beauchene (c146). In fairness, Johnson landed a couple of valuable prizes with the gelding, including a listed staying handicap chase at Aintree on Grand National day last year, but the percentage call is that Prince de Beauchene is another who'll thrive for this stable switch and certainly went into our notebook following an eye-catching fifth in the Troytown Chase at Navan in late-November on his sole start to date this term - he makes plenty of appeal at his current Betfair odds for the Aintree marathon.