Champion Hurdle Preparations Begin

03 February 2010

It has been a while since the last update prior to Go Native’s victory in the Christmas Hurdle and I’m delighted to report the horse is in great form at Tu Va.

When Go Native arrived back in Ireland after Kempton he looked very well and fortunately we have had no hold-ups with him since.

With around six weeks to go until Cheltenham we are just starting to increase his workload ahead of the Champion Hurdle and I’ll probably be taking him to Leopardstown for a piece of work on the grass in the near future.

Having won the WBX.COM Fighting Fifth Hurdle back in 2007 with Harchibald it was disappointing to just get beaten at Kempton in the second leg when we were going for the £1 million bonus but we have a terrific opportunity now. It is very exciting to be involved, especially with so much money at stake.

Everybody here at Tu Va is looking forward to the big day and it would be an honour to achieve something which has only been done once before, by Kribensis.

The betting suggests it is a wide open Champion Hurdle this year and there appear six or seven horses in with genuine chances. I am just glad Go Native is one of them.

Solwhit, the current favourite, was impressive last time out in the Irish Champion and seems to enjoy a battle while it will be interesting to see how Zaynar copes with the drop back in trip to two miles.

Alan King’s Medermit, who finished second to Go Native last year at Cheltenham, did the job well at Haydock when defeating Punjabi. Binocular must not be discounted; he obviously shows plenty at home as he is usually well-backed and was a close third last year.

Finally, the comparisons between Go Native and Harchibald have been well documented since Kempton and I can confirm that the pair are similar types of horse. However, I'd have to say Go Native possesses a lot more speed than Harchibald. Hopefully he will be able to show that in the Champion Hurdle.

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