Minella Indo seemed to me to beat Commander of Fleet and Allaho strictly on merit at Cheltenham, and Henry de Bromhead’s charge has improved notably from start to start, so it makes sense that he should confirm form in similar conditions. So why’s he not favourite? Beats me.
This is fiendishly difficult, but the one I thought was overpriced in the win and place market was From Eden, who was made favourite off a British mark of 124 at Perth last time, and simply didn’t stay the near 3m3f trip. He’d won two of his previous four starts, and while he’s worse off with Thereisnodoubt having finished second to that rival at Gowran in March, that looks really solid form, and he’s improved for the fitting of blinkers since then. He handles quick and soft ground, and may still be improving, so appeals as the type to outrun quite big odds.
He’s been very weak in the market since last night, so we should be ambitious in terms of his place price, and there should be no need to dip below 8.0.
There are questions over several of the main contenders, and with Willie Mullins bringing a couple of “cracks” back after huge absences, it’s a hard race to price up. Not many are certain to give their running, but one who will improve markedly on what he’s shown to date is Caribert, and he’s worth backing win and place given the strength of his bumper form. He was second on his hurdles debut at Exeter and will need to improve, but he looked sure to derive considerable benefit from that run and is fancied to enhance Harry Fry’s excellent record here.
There are lots of opinions about which of the Albert Bartlett principals will come out best here, with excuses around for the placed horses, but I thought Minella Indo could be called the winner some way out at Cheltenham, and my immediate reaction at the time is that if any of the three were going to go on to better things, it would be him, and his pattern of improvement race to race would seem to back that up.
It’s pretty much each-of-three in the betting, but I think Minella Indo should be a clear favourite, and I would snaffle any 5.0 which becomes available.
