Make a note of 25-1 Pipe dark horse

UP THE ANTE:

OF ALL the novice hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival, I believe the JCB Triumph Hurdle is usually the easiest to solve.

The introduction of the Fred Winter Hurdle, a handicap for juveniles not quite up to Triumph standard, has ensured smaller fields for the more elite contest.

And that has led to the form being upheld much more than in previous years when 66-1 winners were not uncommon and hot favourites found themselves trapped in the hurly-burly of 30-runner races.

Juvenile hurdle form usually stands up these days, Zaynar and Walkon proving the point when fighting out the finish of last season’s Triumph.

This season’s race is more of a puzzle, however.

I have not seen one horse deliver a performance to make the pulse race so it is not surprising that the market leader is a juvenile whose reputation is far greater than his racecourse achievements.

The horse in question is Alan King’s Mille Chief, who has won his last two starts at Huntingdon and Kempton after being brought down when looking sure to score on his hurdling debut at Market Rasen (see story right).

King, who has saddled the winner of this race with Katchit and Penzance and hit the crossbar with Walkon and Franchoek, reckons Mille Chief is in the same league as those hurdlers.

But he has yet to beat a horse of any real quality and even the trainer admitted this week that his current price of 6-1 is “shocking value”.

The problem for punters is finding a viable alternative.

There are so few English horses with decent form that it is hardly surprising that the next three in the betting are all trained in Ireland.

Carlito Brigante, with three wins from four starts and a fluent success at Musselburgh on Sunday, is an interesting contender for the shrewd Gordon Elliott.

But he does not strike me as a star in the making and 9-1 is plenty short enough.

That said, he holds Alaivan (12-1) on Leopardstown running, so it’s just a case of how highly you rate this particular line of form.

Secant Star, with two wins from three starts, is 10-1 purely because he is trained by Willie Mullins and it could be that the best Irish challenger is Pittoni, who is unbeaten in three outings and would have won further than he did at Leopardstown on Sunday but for a slow jump at the last.

Pittoni is 16-1 for the Triumph and, given the way trainer Charles Byrnes has handled Solwhit, you can expect this horse to be at concert pitch for Cheltenham.

But, harbouring doubts over the strength of the Irish juvenile form, I have decided to look elsewhere for some value and the horse which interests me most is David Pipe’s Notus De La Tour.

This French import has had only one run in this country, winning comfortably at Plumpton under Johnny Farrelly.

The runner-up that day, Ranjobaie, won at Market Rasen on Tuesday and while this is only useful form, I have a hunch Notus De La Tour is well regarded.

Despite being a juvenile, he was entered for Saturday’s ultra-competitive Totesport Trophy at Newbury so he must have been doing some pretty impressive work at home with the Pipe stable’s older hurdlers.

The decision to go straight to Cheltenham is a plus rather than a negative and although Notus De La Tour will be given an entry in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, I can seen no reason why connections would want to pitch him against Dunguib instead of running in a weak renewal of the Triumph.

All in all, Notus De la Tour has the profile of a potential springer in the ante-post market, so I suggest you get on each-way at the 25-1 widely available.