It is just coming round to ‘Venetia Williams time’ again. Her horses are just starting to get backed and are generally performing well without winning. Actually, if anything her horses are probably being over bet due to our previous experiences of the yards runners moving forward from the Ascot Amlin Chase meeting.
I thought this might be the time to consider her entries over the next couple of weeks with more interest than usual. The horse I chose to take a look at first is one of her Hennessy entry’s Houblon Des Obeaux who is currently a 25/1 outsider for Saturday’s big race. He is definitely a horse with quirks and one that can sometimes be referred to as a horse not to trust.
His disappointing run in the 2015 Hennessy is certainly one of a few recent races that might result in him being placed outside our ‘shortlist box’. For whatever reason, it just seemed to be that Venetia had not been able to get him right in the early part of last season. At the time it did look like he may have fallen out of love with the game. I remain slightly wary of him on that score as he may just take a few extra runs to get going as an older horse. This is definitely one possibility amongst many and something I will keep at the back of my mind.
The part of his profile which suggests he might be a more viable proposition on Saturday is his overall course form which currently reads: 4 6 2 2 9 1 – over fences. When one considers that he has participated in three Hennessy’s, two Denman Chases plus a grade two novice chase in that sequence he begins, at least in my mind, to have the look of a more reliable older horse under certain conditions. After all, four of his six Newbury chase runs would give him every right of being competitive in between the final two flights on Saturday. Prior to his disappointing start to last season we can also see a similarly positive and consistent series of performances from him over fences at Ascot.
Houblon Des Obeaux is not the most obvious winner of the 2016 Hennessy Gold Cup; nevertheless, he is one of the more likely to run his race and finish in the first few. I will be keeping a very close eye on him on Saturday along with a few other entries from the same yard over the next two or three weeks.
To view my special offer for this upcoming Newbury Hennessy meeting please click here: https://thecheltenhamtrail.co.uk/register/newbury-hennessy-meeting-special-offer
