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Mai da Twiston Shout: If Haydock’s card passes morning inspection, the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Bristol De Mai has bright prospects in the Peter Marsh Handicap Chase
- Bristol De Mai has big tips for Haydock’s Peter Marsh Handicap Chase
- The horse is trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies, who is expecting good things.
- There is an inspection at 8am to make sure the Haydock card has survived the weather.
The BRISTOL DE MAI connections (Haydock, 2.40) will be desperate to get today’s prized Haydock undercard to pass a morning inspection as his stalwart appears to have good prospects of winning another race in the Peter Marsh Handicap Chase.
Successful in the 2017 revamp of the this afternoon feature, the popular gray has found the Grade One company too difficult to handle of late, as evidenced by his 21-length defeat at the hands of Protektorat in the Betfair Chase before Christmas.
He was far from out of favor at that event on his favorite ground, however, especially as his conqueror is now priced in single figures for the Gold Cup in March and Bristol De Mai was about to turn 12.
Bristol De Mai is expected to pick up another win at Haydock, if the course passes its 8 am inspection
Returning to handicap company seems a much fairer task these days for the veteran, and his mark of 154 is identical to the rating he achieved in this event all those years ago. Dominating small fields in deep turf has always been Bristol De Mai’s forte, as a record of seven wins in 19 starts in races of six or fewer runners suggests.
If the meeting is given the green light, it is likely that the team, coached by Nigel Twiston-Davies, will also enjoy whatever conditions they may find: they have a Haydock record of four wins from as many races on heavy ground.
Venetia Williams has picked up the last two races from Peter Marsh and the Herefordshire handler is relying on Fontaine Collonges, a distance and field handicap winner on the same day as Bristol De Mai was contesting the Betfair Chase. Fontaine Collonges enjoys a weight concession from Bristol De Mai, but his time to win on his last start was 13 seconds slower (or roughly 65 lengths) than the Protektorat posted in victory, so even by a margin of loss of 21 lengths, Bristol De Mai accomplished much more on the clock than her main rival.
Of course, things are rarely as simple as that rather rudimentary equation, but if Bristol De Mai can repeat that level then they should be able to roll back the years.
Nigel Twiston-Davies coaches the team, who are likely to enjoy the hard work at Haydock
Twiston-Davies cultivated the Hurdle over a number of seasons with The New One and it’s good that the sponsors have recognized the achievements today by naming the race after the popular hurdler.
I Like To Move It is betting on following in the footsteps of its illustrious predecessor and should appreciate the two-mile setback and forced tactics.
However, the talented EPATANTE (Haydock, 2.05) stands in the way of another Twiston-Davies win and should prove tough to beat, having faced the mighty Constitution Hill in her last two starts.
Epatante, right, stands in the way of Twiston-Davies’ victory in I Like To Move It on Saturday
A total of 28 jockeys and 43 games would have breached the revised whipping rules during the first week of the quartering period for showjumping jockeys, according to data from the British Horseracing Authority’s new three-person whip review committee.
The BHA said: ‘There is no evidence that the number of referrals is due to a general disregard for the adjustment period. We have seen clear signs that jockeys are taking steps to ride within the new rules.”
The Clarence House Chase, which was due to take place as part of today’s abandoned card at Ascot, will now take place at Cheltenham next Saturday.
Haydock’s card must pass an inspection today at 8 am.