Marten Julian’s Weekly Roundup 17 November 2025

I want to start this week with a few words about our first Weekend Bulletin, which covered the weekend’s racing including the three-day meeting at Cheltenham.

Jodie and I were delighted with the coverage that we were able to give to the weekend’s meetings and her contribution allowed me to write about horses of long-term interest rather than focus exclusively on finding selections for the day.

The Weekend Bulletin will be produced every weekend so please refer to our online shop to place an order.

Perhaps the most notable performance of the last few days came at Navan on Sunday, when Final Demand put up a hugely impressive display of jumping on his chase debut. He lobbed along as if he were on springs, taking each of the 14 fences with effortless ease and finding another gear approaching the last.

The runner-up Wingmen had finished second to the winner, beaten 12 lengths, in a Grade 1 novice hurdle at Leopardstown in February and they virtually replicated that form here, with the winning margin 13 lengths.

Final Demand is now a top price of 7/4 for the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, which is unappealing from a punter’s perspective but understandable. There is a long way to go, of course, but if I were a bookmaker I would not be keen to lay him on this evidence.

At Cheltenham I wrote about the dilemma facing James Owen with Ambiente Friendly in the maiden hurdle on Sunday.

The 2024 Derby runner-up and Irish Derby third had raced keenly on each of his 13 starts and despite being gelded in June he had still not settled in two subsequent outings.

Sometimes a horse will race keenly if it’s struggling to breathe, so that was addressed in August, but connections evidently felt it wasn’t worth trying to settle him on Sunday so he was allowed to bowl along in front.

As I said beforehand the prospect of him seeing out the trip here, on sticky ground, was remote but he actually kept on quite well after being passed to finish fourth.

James Owen seems able to train anything and I expect him to find the answer with this horse. A flatter track and better ground will help, which brings Aintree into consideration.

The other horse that I was keen to discuss on Sunday was Decorated Hero, who ran in the Greatwood Hurdle.

I didn’t expect him to win, but he had come to my attention last season and I was intrigued to see trainer Sandy Thomson was sending him on the long trip from Berwickshire to Cheltenham.

The Greatwood struck me as being a tall order for a relatively inexperienced horse, but the trainer has astutely handled some decent performers in the past … Seeyouatmidnight springs to mind … and he evidently felt Decorated Hero would not be disgraced.

The six-year-old duly shaped well, behind in the early stages and then making steady late headway from the home turn to finish a never-nearer seventh of 18, beaten 17 lengths at the line.

I had concerns beforehand that the two miles and likely strong pace could find him out … his dam is a half-sister to a winner over 3m 2f … and I expect him to prove best on good ground stepped back up to 2m 4f.

I was able to devote some time to discussing this useful prospect in the Weekend Bulletin and I’ll continue to bring such horses to clients’ attention in future issues, with further coverage on our Racehorse Database.

Bye for now

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