The Weekend Review
By Red
Red looks back on the weekend action, a marvellous performance by Cue Card and casts an eye over the return of Willie Mullins' superstars.
What a thrilling performance. That's all you can say about it really. Cue Card rolled back the years and returned to peak form with an impressive performance to claim the Betfair Chase. Not to toot my own horn, but in my preview on Friday, I'd pointed out that Cue Card could well be back to his best and he didn't disappoint. He travelled superbly and jumped really well. There was one mistake five out and I thought that had cost him the race, but he came back without any apparent effort. He reeled in Silviniaco Conti, who was disappointing and seemed to lack fitness. It must be a big thrill for Colin Tizzard to see his star back to his best. A wind operation seems to have been biggest factor in Cue Card's rejuvenation and he's shortened dramatically in the betting for the King George.
The favourite for that race before the weekend was Vautour and the JLT winner made his seasonal reappearance at Ascot. He won but his one and three quarter length victory was far from impressive. He ran from the front as is his style, but his jumping was nowhere near his JLT efforts. He continuously jumped out to the left and made a mistake at the 11th that nearly cost him the race. But he recovered and managed to put enough distance between him and his challenger Ptit Zig to win. But if I was an ante-post backer (which I'm not for what it's worth) I'd be worried. I know the target will be at Cheltenham and he'll not be fully tuned up just yet, but it doesn't look great for the KG. Kempton is another right-handed track and jumping out to left there will cost him. Equally, there are concerns over his ability to stay the distance. While there were no signs at Ascot that would prevent him from staying, the step up to three miles will test his stamina.
But if Mullins is concerned about Vautour he didn't show it. And any nightmares on Saturday were quickly belayed on Sunday when Douvan put in an impressive jumping performance around Navan on his chase debut. Although he was never really challenged and it was little more than a run around, his price for the Arkle quickly shortened on the back of his display. Later on the card, Augusta Kate followed up her 23 length victory from last time out to win by seven lengths this time.
Back at Ascot on Saturyday, Rock On Ruby put strong performance under pressure to win the Grade 2 Ascot Hurdle, followed by Dresden winning the two mile chase in a slow motion finish. Other eye catchers were Vieux Lion Rouge, running on strongly to win the last race on the card at Haydock, Our Kaempfer was travelling strongly when he was brought down and Baradari claimed the spoils in the Fixed Brush Hurdle. Irving finally, made the most of a mistake by Top Notch two from the finish to assert on the run in. Nicky Henderson's horse will come on for the run though and if it comes up very soft for the Fighting Fifth, he should have a good chance
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