Al Ferof battles to Henry VIII success
Al Ferof, the horse seen by many pundits as the main danger to Peddlers Cross in next March's Arkle Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, battled to victory in the Grade 1 Markel Insurance Henry VIII Novices Chase at Sandown Park on Saturday but didn't impress everyone who saw the race, writes Elliot Slater.
The Paul Nicholls-trained grey, winner of the Supreme Novices Hurdle at last season's Cheltenham Festival and a facile winner on his chasing bow back at Cheltenham in mid-November, was sent off a red-hot 4/11 favourite and was expected to have too many guns for his rivals in the two-mile contest, but after taking up the running at the third last apparently still going very strongly he was forced to pull out all the stops after the last to repel the Nick Williams-trained For Non Stop, holding on grimly by a neck in a ding-dong battle to the line. Even those looking at the Grand National betting will have been impressed.
To be fair, For Non Stop had only been rated a few pounds behind Al Ferof over hurdles and had been travelling well when coming down at the second last on his chasing bow at Cheltenham in October, so it shouldn't have been such a big shock to see him give the John Hales-owned star a good race, but bookmakers decided that the victory had failed to enhance Al Ferof's reputation and left him unchanged at 7/1 ante-post second-favourite for the Irish Independent Arkle Chase behind Peddlers Cross (4/1).
The performance of the runner-up divided layers with some making him a 12/1 shot for the big race at Prestbury Park in three months time, whilst others weren't overwhelmed and priced him up at a seemingly generous 25/1. Those looking ahead to Aintree races 2012 should bear this in mind.
Nicholls took the view that the steady early pace hadn't really suited his horse but was delighted with the way the five-year-old jumped under Ruby Walsh and battled bravely to the line, warning punters not to overlook the runner-up who the champion rates "a bloody good horse".
