Marten Julian’s Weekly Roundup 25 March 2025

By chance last night I was reading an old review written by the late Clive James about a biography of the poet WH Auden, in which he refers to what he calls the ‘clarity of detachment.’

I was thinking this would perfectly encapsulate what was required to address the overload of data and opinion that clouded my thinking in the lead-up to Cheltenham this year.

As I mentioned last week I went out of my way to access as many of the previews that I could, with the consequence that my brain was well and truly clogged up by the start of the meeting.

Having said that no great damage was done but in future I will remind myself of Clive James’s wise words and try to ensure there is space between the subject matter and my own judgement.

Looking back at what was a truly dramatic week’s racing, it would not surprise me if two of the best emerging talents were to be found in the handicaps.

The first is Myretown, who I have to admit caught me on the hop.

Lucinda Russell’s eight-year-old had run just nine times under Rules, winning two of his four starts over fences off 121 and 123.

I wish I had paid more attention to his performance at Kelso in February because he jumped superbly. He jumped even better in the Ultima, landing from the fences with forward momentum and winning this fiercely competitive handicap with ease by 11 lengths.

Afterwards the trainer said the horse was “phenomenally well handicapped” having jumped “exuberantly”, a display that has seen his mark rise from 127 to 142.

The plan is to put him away for next season’s Coral Gold Trophy at Newbury and I was not entirely taken by surprise to hear Lucinda mention, albeit fleetingly, the Gold Cup in the context of his future.

I should add in passing that the trainer’s partner Peter Scudamore would have played a significant role in this success. I am going back many years, but when he was riding he gave me two tips … Broadheath, ridden by Paul Nicholls in the 1986 Hennessy, and a 33/1 second-string bumper winner at Newbury trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies.

He went into great detail as to why he thought both horses would win.

The other horse that could go a long way is Caldwell Potter. I wrote about him last week, but the King George VI Chase at Kempton looks a feasible target given the tremendous record of his trainer Paul Nicholls in the race.

We will learn more about him at Aintree, but the grey’s style of racing would be well-suited to the track.

I’ll be back next week with some more thoughts.

Bye for now

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