Horses To Follow: Three eyecatchers from the Cheltenham Festival

Timeform / Timeform / 15 March 2009 / Leave a Comment

Read Timeform's thoughts on Three Mirrors, The Sliotar and Pause and Clause.

HORSES TO FOLLOW - CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL

No sooner has the Cheltenham Festival reached a conclusion than thoughts turn to the spring meetings at the likes of Aintree and Ayr which bring the curtain down on the National Hunt season.

One recent Festival performer who tends to excel at such fixtures is Ferdy Murphy's Three Mirrors. Fourth in the Freddie Williams Festival Plate, Three Mirrors missed the Festival last year but went on to finish second in a valuable handicap at Aintree before beating Dear Villez to win at the Scottish Grand National meeting for the second successive year.

His mark at this year's Festival was just 4lb higher than when he won at Ayr last term, and having been shuffled into an umpromising position it's arguable that Three Mirrors was significantly better than the bare result, for all that Something Wells and Ping Pong Sivola pulled well clear of the remainder. Either way, Three Mirrors comes into the spring in much better form than last season and is likely to play a part in some of the more prestigious handicaps from two and a half to three miles that remain in the 2008/9 National Hunt campaign.

Another to catch the eye during Thursday's action was The Sliotar, who was making his first start in four months, and just his second for David Pipe, in the Pertemps Final.

On his first run for Pipe, The Sliotar had shaped with some promise in a quite valuable event at the Open meeting, rushed up to join the pace having been held up and paying for those exertions late on. The Pipe team had been quite badly out of sorts at the time, though despite this the absence of The Sliotar since was clearly an issue for many in the Pertemps as he was sent off at 33/1.

Despite again being poorly placed towards the rear, the son of Presenting produced an eye-catching finish to grab fourth place behind Kayf Aramis. Like many of his sire's progeny, The Sliotar has the physique to develop into an even better chaser than a hurdler in time, though so unexposed does he seem over the smaller obstacles that there is no reason why he can't pick up a good prize in a similar event to the Pertemps in the more immediate future.

Looking more towards the future, Pause And Clause created a favourable impression in finishing third in Wednesday's Coral Cup on his handicap debut, travelling and jumping well on just his fourth hurdles start whilst also managing to sustain his effort against two highly progressive rivals in Ninetieth Minute and Mirage Dore. Already on the verge of smart, Pause And Clause looks a likely sort for graded company next term, whilst he would also take to fences should connections decide on taking that route next term.