Northern Trust Company Novices Handicap Chase Preview - Cheltenham Festival
Published on: 10/03/2020
Northern Trust Company Novices Handicap Chase Preview - Cheltenham Festival
March 10, 2020 17:30pm - Cheltenham
Distance: 2m 4f 44y
Grade: (Listed) (Class 1)
Runners: 20
Winner: £39,389.00
Going: Soft
The Close Brothers Novices Handicap Chase was inaugurated in 2005 as the Centenary Novices Handicap Chase and now forms part of the Festival`s opening day line-up. It is a handicap chase for novices run over a distance 2m 4f. Historically, it has been a very tight and competitive event and is a popular race with the Cheltenham crowds.
The competitive nature of the entries often makes this one a difficult race to call and this year is no exception. Imperial Aura heads the betting lists thanks to some steady improvement over fences. He had a good debut over three miles at Fakenham and landed second at Cheltenham at just over three miles before impressing again at Cheltenham with a second-place finish back in January.
Galvin has also shown enough to suggest he can win this race while Hold the Note also turned a few heads with a narrow defeat in a Grade Two race last time out. Both could be in contention along with Espoir De Guye but Imperial Aura just gets the nod as our final pick.
Northern Trust Company Novices Handicap Chase Winners - past six years:
2014: Present View (6) - Brendan Powell Jnr (Jamie Snowden)
2015: Irish Cavalier (6) - Paul Townend (Rebecca Curtis)
2016: Ballyalton (9) - Brian Hughes (Ian Williams)
2017: Tully East (7) - Denis O`Regan (Alan Fleming)
2018: Mister Whitaker (6) - Brian Hughes (Mick Channon)
2019: A Plus Tard (5) - Rachael Blackmore (Henry de Bromhead)
Latest Betting odds:
Imperial Aura 5/1
Espoir De Guye 15/2
Galvin 15/2
Hold The Note 8/1
Beakstown 12/1
Whatmore 14/1
Trainwreck 14/1
Precious Cargo 14/1
Champagne Court 18/1
By Neil Morris
Published on: 10/03/2020
Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (10/03/2020 14:56:20) but are subject to change.
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