Cheltenham Festival Ratings Review

Features / Timeform / 23 March 2010 / Leave a comment

Imperial Commander delivered the best Gold Cup-winning performance since Arkle

Timeform examine the ratings achieved in victory at this year's Festival, and place them in a historical context...

" A figure of 184 places Imperial Commander in very select company indeed. Not only does he fully deserve to be talked about in the same breath as the two aforementioned Gold Cup winners, but also along with some greats of the past, such as Moscow Flyer and Burrough Hill Lad (both also rated 184)."

History may well record the latest Cheltenham Festival as a bloodbath, with the defeat of several apparent bankers heaping misery upon punters. However, the eclipse of the likes of Dunguib, Master Minded and Kauto Star does not necessarily mean that the Festival was in any way substandard. Indeed, the Championship races in particular were generally well up to scratch.

The Gold Cup itself was long-billed as the showdown between the two outstanding steeplechasers of their generation, Kauto Star and Denman. The simple fact that neither won might point to suggestions that the race, as things panned out, was below standard. However, that is emphatically not the case. Indeed, on Timeform ratings, in finishing second Denman produced a performance every bit as good as when he won the race two years ago, running to 178. With this in mind, it is immediately apparent that Imperial Commander put up a genuinely top-drawer performance to win. He ran to 184, which is 3 lb better than the outstanding figure recorded by Kauto Star in last year's renewal, and is therefore the best rating recorded in the Gold Cup since the days of Arkle. A figure of 184 places Imperial Commander in very select company indeed. Not only does he fully deserve to be talked about in the same breath as the two aforementioned Gold Cup winners, but also along with some greats of the past, such as Moscow Flyer and Burrough Hill Lad (both also rated 184).

No horse has run to a rating of 170 or better in the Champion Hurdle since Rooster Booster won in 2003, and that is still the case after this year's renewal. However, in the wider context of recent Champion Hurdles, Binocular's winning performance was comfortably above average. He is now rated 168 - only Rooster Booster and Istabraq have been rated higher as two-mile hurdlers in the last decade. In behind him runner-up Khyber Kim continued his steady progression with a marginally improved effort while none of the other market leaders performed right up to their best.

The main talking point to emerge from the Champion Chase was Master Minded's below-par performance. His stunning victory in the 2008 renewal of the race will live long in the memory, but, in truth, he hasn't really threatened to reproduce that level of form since, for all that he has won five Graded races in the meantime. This season's performances have been less than inspiring on the whole, notwithstanding his well-documented rib injury and, in light of that, we now rate Master Minded 165+, a stone below the rating he ran to in 2008. He now has questions to answer. While Big Zeb's winning performance did not match the figures produced in recent years by the likes of Master Minded and Moscow Flyer, at 169 it is easily a superior performance to the ones put up by Voy Por Ustedes and Newmill.

Big Buck's did not need to run to quite the same level as last year when winning the World Hurdle, which perhaps is indicative of the extent to which he has frightened off the opposition in the staying hurdle ranks. He remains on 174+, which reflects his status as one of the leading staying hurdlers in Timeform's experience over jumps. Indeed, since Chasers & Hurdlers was first published in 1975/76, only five horses have been rated higher in that sphere. What's more, Big Buck's is quite probably capable of better form still as denoted by the + on his rating, though whether he will ever get the chance to confirm that is in some doubt. Time For Rupert continued his upward curve with an excellent three and a quarter lengths second behind Big Buck's with a further eleven lengths back to Powerstation in third. He is now rated 166, which would have been good enough to win plenty of past renewals of this race. Time For Rupert is a very exciting novice chasing prospect for next season.

Speaking of novice chasers, Sizing Europe's win in the Arkle was more or less up to scratch for the race without being an outstanding performance. He ran to 154, which would have been sufficient to be rated Timeform's best novice chaser in Chasers & Hurdlers on three occasions in the last decade. It is worth noting that he ran to 160 as a hurdler, and may do better still over fences, for all that improvement is clearly needed to get into Champion Chase territory. The other Grade 1 novice chase, the RSA, was won in ready fashion by Weapon's Amnesty, with market leaders Long Run and Punchestowns both below their best, the latter markedly so. Bearing in mind the underperformance of that pair, it is difficult to rate Weapon's Amnesty's win too highly. He ran to 152, which is a higher rating than those attained in winning by Albertas Run and Star de Mohaison, but some way short of what Denman and Cooldine achieved. However, there is a suspicion that there may yet be better to come from Weapon's Amnesty, and given his good record at Cheltenham it is plausible enough to see him developing into a Gold Cup contender next season
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Weapon's Amnesty was victorious at the Festival as a novice hurder last term, running to 144 in the Spa. The winner of that race this year was 33/1-shot Berties Dream, who recorded a well-up-to-scratch rating of 145, but much like the RSA Chase the market leaders failed to fire, with Tell Massini notably disappointing (seemingly amiss) given that he was rated 148p going into the race. The Festival's best performance by a novice hurdler was that recorded by Peddlers Cross in the Baring Bingham. Though it may not match the rating Mikael d'Haguenet ran to in a very strong renewal last year, a figure of 147 for Peddlers Cross is right up to standard overall, matching or surpassing what was achieved by the likes of Hardy Eustace, Nicanor and Fiveforthree. The form of the Supreme Novices' Hurdle is probably no better than average for the race, primarily because it was not run at a particularly searching gallop. The winner, Menorah, received a fine ride from Richard Johnson to prevail by a head from Get Me Out of Here, with both horses running to 145, the same figure recorded by Ebaziyan in 2007. Triumph winner Soldatino also ran to 145, which doesn't on the face of it compare well with several recent renewals, though it must be said that the races won by Zaynar and Katchit were notably strong. Indeed, a horse running to 145 would have won all but five Triumph Hurdles since 1989.

The week's best handicap performance came in defeat, as French Opera ran to 157 when finishing second in the Grand Annual. Though he did have the assistance of a capable 7-lb claimer, it is worth nothing that he ran to a higher rating than Sizing Europe did in the Arkle, and is plainly up to mixing it with the top novices. Perhaps the most notable other handicap run was that of Ballabriggs (145) in the Kim Muir. The Topham looks an obvious next step for him, with the Aintree fences looking certain to suit. Finally, the Pipe yard showed once again that there are few better at readying one for a big handicap, producing both Buena Vista and Great Endeavour to win the Pertemps and the Byrne Group Plate respectively.

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