20-1 Simarian has form in the book

SNOOPY LOOPY, recommended for the BHA Order of Merit at 9-1 in this column last week, is down to 4-1 for the award following his excellent third in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury.

I hope you got on so you can look forward with anticipation to Snoopy Loopy’s next appearance in the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day and the prospect of more bonus points.

There is every chance that Peter Bowen’s tough-as-teak 10-year-old will end up at the Cheltenham Festival, and it is the National Hunt extravaganza in March which I am looking at tonight.

This is a toe-in-the-water approach as much can happen between now and the Festival, but I believe there are one or two horses which should be backed at fancy prices as it does no harm to start a Cheltenham portfolio this side of Christmas.

You only have to hit the target once to guarantee a profit at the Festival and the starting point for me is to reiterate my faith in Pettitfour for the World Hurdle.

Last week I recommended you snap up Ladbrokes’ offer of 16-1 for the Cheltenham three-miler and nothing I saw at Newbury on Saturday changed my mind.

In fact, I am even more convinced that Nigel Twiston-Davies’s six-year-old is a major player as the injury to ante-post favourite Inglis Drever has seen him taken out of the betting for Cheltenham and Duc De Regniere, the easy winner of the Newbury contest, was the chief beneficiary of a slow gallop for the first two miles of the contest.

The tactics were clearly designed to negate Inglis Drever’s staying powers, but they did Pettitfour no good either and jockey Paddy Brennan had no option but to make a long strike for home.

Pettitfour was a sitting duck in the straight, but they always go a good gallop at Cheltenham and this unexposed horse will be able to delay his challenge and produce the form his connections expect of him.

Ladbrokes are out on a limb with their price - Hills go just 10-1 - and I strongly recommend you get involved each-way.

Looking at the various races at the Festival, I was quickly drawn to the 20-1 on offer about Simarian for the Triumph Hurdle.

Formerly trained by John Oxx in Ireland, Simarian comes from the same family as Derby and Arc winner Sinndar, so it is no surprise that he is a horse of serious talent.

But the bookies seem to have been slow to catch on and that gives us a useful edge in the ante-post market.

Simarian took time to get his act together over hurdles, but has won on his last two starts at Cheltenham, and his seven-length demolition of a decent field in a Grade 2 race on his last outing is comfortably the best juvenile form posted this season.

The last three winners of that Cheltenham race have gone on to finish second, first and second in the Triumph, so Simarian has plenty going for him and trainer Evan Williams reports the gelding to be progressing in leaps and bounds at home.

If this horse were trained by Nicholls, Henderson or King, he would be half his current price, so get on each-way before his next intended target, the Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow over Christmas.

A couple of other horses for the Cheltenham portfolio are recent Ascot winner Dee Ee Williams and Ferdy Murphy’s Kalahari King.

The former has won both his hurdles starts at Cheltenham and Ascot, but I don’t think we have seen anything like the best of him so far and trainer Nick Gifford agrees.

This horse was 25-1 for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle a week ago, but is down to 16-1.

That price will contract further if he wins again at Ascot on December 19, so each-way vouchers could look fine come the opening race of the Festival.

Kalahari King has hot favourite Tatanen to overcome in the Arkle Chase, but both that one’s victories have come on a soft surface and I am not convinced he will be quite so effective on the faster surface usually associated with Cheltenham in March.

Kalahari King, on the other hand, prefers a sound surface and has done really well to win both his chasing starts at Kelso and Leicester when you consider his trainer’s slow start to the season.

Last year’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner jumps soundly and has a high cruising speed, so I would much rather back him each-way at 12-1 than Tatanen at a miserly 3-1.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Pettitfour, World Hurdle, e.w., 16-1 (Ladbrokes); Simarian, Triumph Hurdle, e.w., 20-1 (general); Dee Ee Williams, Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, e.w., 16-1 (general); Kalahari King, Arkle Chase, e.w., 12-1 (Boylesports, Coral).