Ratings Update: Comeback season continues and crowding in the Gold Cup picture

Though he’s arguably the most pessimistic of all the big names in his profession, you couldn’t use Gary Moore in the case against that old saw that trainers treat their horses like their own children. How else could you instil such resolute groundedness into the World’s Best Jockey, as well as his two highly-accomplished brothers, without having a father who’d be willing to believe the worst about his best horse on the power of just an underwhelming reappearance?

Luckily for all of us, Moore was premature in declaring that Sire de Grugy “isn’t the horse he was” after the Haldon Gold Cup (in fairness, Timeform reached the same conclusion, just a little more tentatively). After winning his second Tingle Creek on Saturday, he is back to a rating of 169, just 5 lb below his peak in 2013/14.

Sire de Grugy’s win on Saturday continues the overall theme of the season, the comeback, and adds further intrigue to the two-mile division. With him and Sprinter Sacre (175+) returning to near their best and Special Tiara (168) adding further to his impressive body of recent work when runner-up in the Tingle Creek, the resistance to Un de Sceaux (169p), who we’ve yet to see this winter, is much stronger than anticipated.

Both of the Grade 1s on Sandown’s card went to the Moore yard and it was Henry VIII winner Ar Mad that really got the clock-watchers talking. He made all under an attacking ride from Joshua Moore, impressively managing to run a quicker closing sectional (from the Pond Fence) than the fully-fledged chasers in the Tingle Creek despite having also reached that point quicker than Special Tiara and Sire de Grugy. Ar Mad has been rated 154. That could be higher on times. It isn’t because we’re of the view that the younger Moore did very well to draw the best from his mount, while the fact that Sire de Grugy and Special Tiara took each other on from a long way out may also have contributed to the eye-catching time difference between the two races.

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There are other high-level races at Sandown’s Tingle Creek meeting, though this year few lived up to their billing. The Winter Novices’ Hurdle on the Friday is particular notable in how low a rating it yielded on winner Label des Obeaux (127p). He’ll need to improve significantly to challenge in similar events down the line, though he may well with just two runs for Alan King behind him.

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Over at Aintree, the two races over the National fences captured the observer’s attention, though for ratings the Listed chase in between was much more interesting. If there’s to be a race this season that involves both the Gold Cup and Grand National winner, this would be the early front-runner. Don Poli took the measure of April’s National winner Many Clouds (168) by four lengths in the end, in spite of a slipped saddle and a game, bold-jumping performance from the runner-up. Even though he was in receipt of 5 lb, Don Poli did enough to earn a rating of 171p, which puts him right in among the Gold Cup contenders. Don Poli is a Gold Cup horse all over, proven at Cheltenham with bags of stamina, so it’s hard to argue with him being co-favourite on most lists.

The two races over the National fences were taken by horses overdue a win there, so there’s not an awful lot to be inferred from them. Highland Lodge (133§) has long had the sound-jumping, front-running style that suits the course and on his first start for Jimmy Moffatt completed the treble of finding for pressure. Bennys Mist (143) may now rightly be recognised more for his good showings here than for his failures after taking the Grand Sefton impressively.

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A fairly rare Sunday bulletin from Britain as we head to Huntingdon, and not just for the Peterborough. That race saw Al Ferof, on his first start for Dan Skelton, make a deeply impressive seasonal return (plus ça change…). He looked to have the measure of Ptit Zig (166) when that one crashed out at the last and has been rated 170. The usual script from here is that Al Ferof disappoints for the rest of season, starting with the King George. Maybe things will be different for a new yard. He’s always appealed as a potential champion that even Paul Nicholls couldn’t quite keep right. Good luck, Dan.

There were a couple of highly encouraging performances on the undercard, too. Kalane could not have won the mares’ novices’ chase any more easily, nor jumped any better, and is rated 135p. The Listed bumper, also for mares, was taken by La Bague Au Roi. She’s now rated 115p, prominent even in a particularly strong collection of female bumper performers which includes Copper Kay (112+) and Augusta Kate (115p).

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We finish in the more familiar Sunday territory of Ireland. Punchestown survived where Cork didn’t, allowing us to see some informative racing. There was a taking hurdling debut from top bumper performer Yorkhill (127P) as well as an encouraging return to action for the long-absent Pont Alexandre, whose winning debut over fences earns him a rating of 146P.

The feature race was the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase. An SP of 7/4 about Djakadam reflected some minor doubts over a Gold Cup runner-up in soft ground repeating his best over two and a half miles, so that he won so impressively is a strong recommendation for him. He beat Valseur Lido (161+) by 12 lengths and has earned a rating of 171, up 1 lb from his spring form. Though his race and Don Poli’s came under very different conditions, there’s no doubt on the weekend’s showings that both are firmly in the picture for the Gold Cup in March.