The Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle is always a high class affair and three superstars have emerged from the last three renewals of the race.
Last year’s winner Peddlers Cross heads into Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle with a serious chance of adding another Cheltenham Festival success to his CV and he is proof that speed, stamina and slick jumping are all essential attributes required to win the novices’ showpiece.
In 2008 and 2009 Irish trainer Willie Mullins won the race with Fiveforthree and Mikael D’Haguenet and it looks like the handler has unearthed another unexposed gem set to take his chance in the Grade One.
French import So Young (
Victor Chandler top price) is exactly the type of horse Mullins does so well with and the five-year-old has powered onto the novice scene with two mightily impressive successes in Ireland this season.
A sixteen length romp in a maiden hurdle at Leopardstown confirmed that the three-time winner on the flat was more than capable of becoming a high class operator over obstacles and he looked a superstar in waiting when he powered to another scintillating victory at Punchestown in February.
Racing up with the pace and jumping impressively and economically, So Young raced keenly at a steady pace before putting the race to bed with incredible ease. Sauntering past Big Game Hunter in second, So Young showed a breathtaking change of pace to wrap the race up and he was immediately cut for both the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Neptune Investment.
At a recent Cheltenham preview night, jockey Davy Russel said that Paul Townend has been telling everyone that So Young was an absolute superstar and that he’d never sat on one like him before. That was certainly high praise from a jockey that has partnered the likes of Hurricane Fly to multiple successes in Ireland and it could be that Mullins’ youngster is ready to justify the high regard he is held in at Prestbury Park on Wednesday week.
So Young’s inexperience must be of some concern and he will be facing battle-hardened horses that have already done it at Cheltenham in the shape of Bobs Worth and Rock On Ruby. However there is a feeling in Ireland that their raider is the real deal and he could hold the aces over the English form.
Mullins is also bound to have a clue how good a horse needs to be to beat Oscars Well, ante post favourite for the race, after the Deloitte winner hammered So Young’s stablemate Zaidpour at Leopardstown in February.
Nick Wilby's selection - So Young 5/1
