JP McManus Riding Arrangements
March 7th, 2017 | Marten's Current Racing Diary
Hi there,
Riding arrangements have been made for JP McManus’s string of Cheltenham contenders following the injury to his retained rider Barry Geraghty.
Noel Fehily comes in for the mounts on Buveur D’Air and Unowhatimeanharry while McManus’s key player in his Irish team Mark Walsh gets the rides on Yanworth in the Champion Hurdle, Uxizandre in the Ryanair Chase and Jezki in the Stayers’ Hurdle.
My Tent Or Yours, McManus’s third representative in the Champion Hurdle, will be ridden by Aidan Coleman. Fehily has ridden both Buveur D’Air and Unowhatimeanharry before, stating that the more rain the better for Buveur D’Air.
Top amateur Jamie Codd expects to have four rides next week. He will be riding Cause Of Causes in the Cross-County Chase, On The Fringe in the Foxhunter and trying for a second success in the National Hunt Chase on A Genie In Abottle.
Tony Martin’s representatives are always to be feared at the Festival but it looks as if his Leopardstown November Handicap winner Golden Spear is unlikely to get into the County Hurdle. He is currently 82 on the list but if he wins the Imperial Cup on Saturday, for which he is currently ante-post favourite, he will be given a 5lb penalty.
The ground at Cheltenham is currently riding good to soft on the Old Course and good to soft, good in places, on the New Course. The forecast is for about 10mm of rain over Thursday and Friday and then mainly dry days thereafter.
My view, at this stage, is that there may not be quite enough rain for the soft-ground specialists.
Bye for now
Marten
