Timeform Trainer Form: Bryan Smart, Ron Hodges and Nicky Henderson

Features / Timeform / 11 February 2010 / Leave a comment

Punchestowns spearheads a fine group of novice chasers for Nicky Henderson

Timeform has picked out three trainers who have had the winning touch in recent weeks..

Bryan Smart has had his horses hitting the high notes in the last fortnight, with five winners from just fifteen runners. The Hambleton handler looks to have a useful prospect in the shape of Arry's Orse, an impressive maiden winner at Lingfield, who is sure to provide the yard with more wins in the coming weeks and months. Smalljohn produced two 'giant' performances to win at Wolverhampton twice in the space of seven days and is thriving at the moment. Meanwhile, the ultra-consistent Nickel Silver mined another success when landing a competitive handicap at Lingfield last week.

Ron Hodges has gone a long way to matching his total of all-weather winners from the whole of 2009 in the last two weeks alone. The Somerset handler had seven winners all of last year on an artificial surface. However, he has sent out seven runners in the past fortnight, and has had four return victorious. The last four horses Ron Hodges has sent to Wolverhampton have all won and it is worth noting that he has Miss Firefly engaged in the 8:45 there tomorrow.

Nicky Henderson could feature in this section every week, such has been the consistently high level this yard has operated at. The Lambourn stable has had at least one winner each of the last five days; the highlights include Punchestowns landing the Scilly Isles Novices' Chase at Sandown and Eradicate winning the Scottish County Hurdle at Musselburgh. A particularly interesting statistic is the strike rate of the yard in novice chases this season, from thirty -eight runners there have been nineteen successes, accounting for a very impressive 50% strike rate.