Cheltenham hopes for Jefferson (From Gazette & Herald)

Cheltenham hopes for Jefferson

Inevitably, the weather in January and February plays an all important part in the development of the racing season. Trainers with horses which are being prepared to peak in March for the Cheltenham Festival, are scrutinising the going reports with keen interest.

Such was the case at Haydock Park, on Saturday, where three races were Cheltenham trials. After the meeting at the turn of the year, the ground was beginning to dry out nicely, before being deluged last Wednesday and Thursday.

More than an inch of rain fell on the Lancashire track, leaving it waterlogged in parts, and it came as a real shock to racing professionals in the Ryedale area, where our rainfall was minimal, to hear that the big meeting was subject to an inspection on Friday morning.

Malcolm Jefferson was one of the local trainers who was keeping a very close watch on the situation over the Pennines as his promising novice hurdler Roman Ark, a winner at Haydock in December, was set to return there.

The meeting got the go-ahead but on Friday a severe frost caused a few palpitations and caused the abandonment of the meeting at Catterick.

Roman Ark had scored an eye-catching victory in his previous race but the opposition in the Imperial Leather Novices Hurdle looked really formidable and the betting showed that one or two of the contestants were better fancied than the Norton-based seven-year-old.

Fergus King held Roman Ark up in the early stages on this very testing ground but when he challenged three flights out the race was never in doubt, and despite making an error at the last he ran out an eight-length victor.

All five of the runners had shown good earlier form, mostly on soft ground, and Roman Ark's win puts him pretty high in the list of novice hurdlers and brought a welcome change of fortune to trainer Malcolm Jefferson, who now has a real Cheltenham prospect.

He said "I intend to enter him for the Sun Alliance and the Supreme Novices' Hurdles at the Festival and whichever he runs could well be his next race.

"He is entered for the Totesport Gold Trophy at Newbury on February 12 and, since he is so well after his win on Saturday , that might be an option but at present he won't get in at the weights. He's likely to go up in the handicap 10 or 12 pounds for this win and if he gets into the Newbury race on 10 stone, I would be tempted to run him.

"That race, just a month before Cheltenham, would be an ideal preparation for him. He's a really nice horse and, although he isn't the quickest at home, he's a real galloper - those that catch pigeons at home often don't catch much on the course".

A jockey who first took the eye when riding for Malcolm Jefferson a few years back was Graham Lee. He was particularly associated with that good chaser Tullymurry Toff, but rode many winners for the Norton trainer before moving further north, to work with County Durham handler, Howard Johnson.

The talents of trainer and rider added to the massive investment by their principal owner, Graham Wylie, have transformed the yard from being a fairly successful outfit into one of the best in the country and the two big Haydock Park trials both fell to them.

Graham, not long back in the saddle after a prolonged lay-off with a broken arm, produced a surging finish from Inglis Drever, in the Haydock Champion Hurdle Trial, to wear down the pacemaking Mister McGoldrick on the run-in to win by eight lengths.

"If it is good to soft ground or softer, he is likely to go for the Champion Hurdle," Johnson said: "but he won't run if it is any firmer than that".

His other winner, Lord Transcend, who gave a superb exhibition of jumping to win the day's feature event, the Peter Marsh Chase, will definitely not run at Cheltenham. In only his fourth run over fences, and given an exemplary ride by Graham Lee, he looks a really high-class prospect for the future, but it is possible that he may not run again this season.

After returning a 10-length winner over the veteran French chaser First Gold, Lord Transcend will probably have a break. Howard Johnson said: "I might run him in the Scottish Grand National, but it wouldn't bother me if he didn't run again this season".

With such a wealth of talent in the yard, Graham Lee will, no doubt, have many other winners even if this stable star does enjoy a holiday.

This weekend sees jump meetings at Cheltenham and Ayr, alongside one of Yorkshire's principal National Hunt fixtures - Great Yorkshire Chase Day at Doncaster. As with so many traditional landmark events, the Great Yorkshire Chase no longer bears the 'great', or even Yorkshire and is now simply the Sky Bet Chase.

Perhaps it is appropriate that this year we have no Ryedale contenders for this valuable prize. We are likely to see some local contenders in other events and Richard Fahey's Ball O Malt, Malcolm Jefferson's Cumbrian Knight and Tim Easterby's Tribal Disputer are possible for the novices chase.

Further afield, Tim Easterby has Turgeonev entered for the day's feature race, the Victor Chandler Chase at Cheltenham, although he has an alternative entry at Doncaster, and one or two local horses are likely to make the trip over the border to Ayr.

Updated: 12:49 Wednesday, January 26, 2005