Weekend Review: Captain Conan lands the spoils at Sandown

Weekend Preview/Review / Timeform / 09 January 2012 / Leave a Comment

Captain Conan (pink) makes a winning British debut at Sandown.

"Captain Conan, a winner on his final start when trained in France, made a successful British debut for new handler Nicky Henderson, showing a marked improvement on his French form in the process..."

Timeform look back at a weekend featuring a winning British debut for Captain Conan in the Tolworth Hurdle and a storming success for Hold On Julio in a handicap chase, both at Sandown, alongside some intriguing racing from across the Irish Sea...

Despite Prospect Wells, the horse with the highest Timeform rating going into the race, clearly running below form, the 2012 renewal of the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle looked up to scratch. Captain Conan, a winner on his third and final start when trained in France, made a successful British debut for new handler Nicky Henderson, showing marked improvement in the process.

It has to be said he was fortunate to land the spoils though, as runner-up Colour Squadron would have won had he run in a straight line towards the finish. Nevertheless, that shouldn't take away from Captain Conan's potential, having had just the four runs over hurdles to date. He is currently available at [17.0] for the Supreme Novices' at Cheltenham, although he may be one more for the long-term, his physique suggesting that he is every bit a chaser in the making.

Colour Squadron can be backed at [22.0] for the Supreme, and he is certainly a useful novice who, like the winner, could be seen to even better effect over fences in time. The fairly drastic hanging and veering is concerning, but this was his first run right handed and only his fourth outing.

The race was openly an afterthought for Prospect Wells (entered only when the race was reopened) and the small field, steady pace and sticky ground was probably not an ideal combination. He could still be on target for the Supreme, for which he can be backed at [22.0], and his earlier form shouldn't be overlooked come the Festival.

The three-mile handicap chase on Sandown's card was won in impressive style by the Alan King-trained Hold On Julio, who defied a 16 lb higher mark and a catalogue of jumping errors to win by nine lengths. He will need to make further improvement to mix it in better company after another hike in the weights, but the potential is there and he's still unexposed. The likely target at Cheltenham is the JLT Specialty Chase, for which he is currently trading at [8.6].

Neptune Collonges ran a puzzling race to finish second under top weight, seemingly losing interest at halfway after being unable to lead and looking in a hopeless position after the fourteenth. However, he rallied and saw things out well and his finishing effort was hard to fault.

Hold Fast, also trained by Paul Nicholls, somewhat refuted the idea that he was in need of further than two miles when jumping well and storming clear of his rivals in Sandown's 14:05. His seasonal reappearance at Newbury suggested that an increase in distance was required, but he looked all the sharper for that run, showing significant improvement with the promise of more to come.

The winner simply proved to be too far ahead of the handicapper for his rivals to cope with, although several did well enough to think that they'll be of interest again, including third-placed Tanks For That. He surely has the Grand Annual on his agenda and he's [30.0] to win that race.

Thurles staged an interesting card on Saturday and connections of Quel Esprit will now have the Gold Cup (currently [36.0]) on their minds after the grey easily landed a Grade 3 chase. However, he is yet to win a race above Grade 3 level, is at his best in testing conditions and did not jump well in the RSA Chase last season. The victory does give him a platform to build on though, so he cannot be totally eliminated from calculations.

Two other winners at Thurles on Saturday were Berties Dream and Mozoltov, who are both of interest with regards to Festival targets. The former comfortably landed a beginners' chase, and is trading at [55.0] for the RSA Chase, whilst Mozoltov, trained by Willie Mullins, won the concluding bumper in similar style. It is hardly worth mentioning that Mullins' horses are of great interest in the Champion Bumper, and Mozoltov is available to back at [40.0].

The most interesting action on Sunday came from Naas, where another couple of horses look ones to follow for the rest of the season. Monksland, trained by Noel Meade, stayed on strongly to land the Grade 2 Slaney Novice Hurdle, with Lyreen Legend and Dedigout in second and third respectively. The five-year-old has now won all of his three starts under Rules, and was a close second when running out on his sole start in points. He is now fairly prominent in the betting for the Neptune, and is available at [16.0].

Flemenstar made it two from three over fences for trainer Peter Casey when asserting in the closing stages to beat Lambro and Monastrell. The winner, whose only chase defeat came at the hands of Bog Warrior (prominent in the RSA betting), could have the Arkle on his radar, and he's currently available to back at [46.0].

Willie Mullins saddled a second bumper winner of the weekend in the final race at Naas, as Un Atout won in similarly impressive style. He is now trading at [16.0] for the Champion Bumper.