KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec - Winner Somersby

[bowles10]

Another race for saturday Saturday December 5 2009 Sandown 13:55 betinternet.com Henry VIII Novices' Chase (Grade 2) £33000.00 added, 4yo plus, 2m, Class 1 12 runners Going: Soft-Heavy in places on Hurdles course. Sky Bet special - bet £30, get £30 free!

12:55 13:25 13:55 14:25 15:00 15:30

		Form	Horse	Age	Wt	Trainer	Jockey	OR	NagMe	Bet
		2501-31	Awesome George 15	5	11-2	A King		135		SP SP SP
		1242-13	Copper Bleu (IRE) 25	7	11-2	P J Hobbs		-		SP SP SP
		1/1254-1	Crack Away Jack 28	5	11-2	Miss E C Lavelle		-		SP SP SP
		412061	Danehill Willy (IRE) 27	7	11-2	Evan Williams		136		SP SP SP
		10166-1	Dave's Dream (IRE) 16	6	11-2	N J Henderson		130		SP SP SP
		2530P-1	Door Boy (IRE) 41	6	11-2	J Howard Johnson	Denis O'regan	134		SP SP SP
		101-611	First Point (GER) 23	6	11-2	N J Henderson		142		SP SP SP
		1201-11	Kangaroo Court (IRE) 49	5	11-2	Miss E C Lavelle		-		SP SP SP
		41333-1	Somersby (IRE) 31	5	11-2	Miss H C Knight		-		SP SP SP
		10100-1	Take The Breeze (FR) 25	6	11-2	P F Nicholls		140		SP SP SP
		110-211	Tchico Polos (FR) 32	5	11-2	P F Nicholls		-		SP SP SP
		25-6011	Rory Boy (USA) 24	4	10-10	N A Twiston-Davies		135		SP SP SP

[bowles10]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec The Henry VIII Novices' Chase is a Grade 2 National Hunt chase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Sandown Park over a distance of 2 miles (3,219 metres), and during its running there are thirteen fences to be jumped. The race is for novice chasers, and it is scheduled to take place each year in early December. The event is named after Henry VIII, who commandeered Esher (the location of Sandown Park) as a royal hunting ground in the sixteenth century. In its analysis of the 2007 running, the Racing Post described the Henry VIII Novices' Chase as: "A race that has a very high standing in the calendar thanks to the exploits of past winners and subsequent Grade 1 stars like Direct Route, Decoupage, Fondmort, Impek, Thisthatandtother, Contraband and Racing Demon." [edit] Winners since 1988

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer
1988	The Dragon Master	6	George Mernagh	Robert Waley-Cohen
1989	Deep Flash	6	Tom Morgan	John Edwards
1990	Acre Hill	6	Richard Dunwoody	Nicky Henderson
1991	Peanuts Pet	6	Trevor Wall	Bryan McMahon
1992	Wonder Man	7	Richard Dunwoody	David Nicholson
1993	Baydon Star	6	Adrian Maguire	David Nicholson
1994	Sound Reveille	6	Graham Bradley	Charlie Brooks
1995	Certainly Strong	5	Richard Dunwoody	David Nicholson
1996	Mulligan	6	Adrian Maguire	David Nicholson
1997	Direct Route	6	Tony McCoy	Howard Johnson
1998	Dines	6	Tony McCoy	Paul Nicholls
1999	Decoupage	7	Norman Williamson	Charles Egerton
2000	Crocadee [1]	7	Paul Flynn	Venetia Williams
2001	Fondmort	5	Mick Fitzgerald	Nicky Henderson
2002	Impek	6	Jim Culloty	Henrietta Knight
2003	Thisthatandtother	7	Ruby Walsh	Paul Nicholls
2004	Contraband	6	Timmy Murphy	Martin Pipe
2005	Racing Demon	5	Timmy Murphy	Henrietta Knight
2006	Fair Along	4	Richard Johnson	Philip Hobbs
2007	Marodima	4	Sam Thomas	Paul Nicholls
2008	Araldur	4	Robert Thornton	Alan King

[jtw1]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec The last 10 runnings have all been won by either the Fav or 2nd fav . 9/10 had won at least at Cl 3 grade . 9/10 had ran no more than 3 times that season with 8 winning LTO. 4 Y-old's have a good record with 3 winners , 3 x 2nds and 2 x 3rds from 11 runners of that vintage. With Soft ground forecast it will be interesting to see how many runners we get esp if CRACK AWAY JACK runs .

[jtw1]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec Just had a quick look to see who would prefer the Soft/Heavy going Sandown looks like having over the weekend and i doubt CRACK AWAY JACK is one of them . He has done all his winning on Good [3 wins] or G/S [1] . AWESOME GEORGE , COPPER BEAU and TAKE THE BREEZE will definately be suited by the going ; whilst the only 4 yo entered , RORY BOY , has been placed on Soft /Heavy but all 3 wins have been on Good - G/F .

[RuleBritannia]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec

Just had a quick look to see who would prefer the Soft/Heavy going Sandown looks like having over the weekend and i doubt CRACK AWAY JACK is one of them . He has done all his winning on Good [3 wins] or G/S [1] . AWESOME GEORGE , COPPER BEAU and TAKE THE BREEZE will definately be suited by the going ; whilst the only 4 yo entered , RORY BOY , has been placed on Soft /Heavy but all 3 wins have been on Good - G/F .

Take The Breeze runs at Exeter tomorrow :ok

[billvernon]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec Crack away Jack will win this won grade 3 won right handed and ok on ground high rated hurdler class

[jtw1]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec

Take The Breeze runs at Exeter tomorrow :ok

and wins @ 9/4 !!! Unfortunately this race has also cut-up badly with only 4 declared . CRACK AWAY JACK FIRST POINT SOMERSBY TCHICO POLOS and the track has declared an inspection tomorrow morning as even more rain is forecast tonight.

[jtw1]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec Hen Knight has been quoted as hoping that conditions aren't too testing for SOMERSBY on Saturday so with that in mind there's a chance she may decide not to run !!

[jtw1]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec I'm going for Nicholls TCHICO POLOS. Reasons- He is the only genuine front runner in the race which will be run on very Soft/Heavy going and that type of ground is always against those who like to sit in behind the leaders and come late. The FAV is unproven on the going . Nicholls stable is now in form and has won this twice in the past 6 runnings. The likely 2nd fav is unlikely to find the ground ideally to it's favor. 6/1 is decent value in the conditions , imo.

[bowles10]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec JTW1, i was going along the same lines with the Nicholls horse but i do think Somersby could be something special. if she runs it, i think it is good enough to win even on this ground. It has more in its favour than the favourite with a win on Soft ground at the beginning of its career however dont forget the fav does have a win over these fences at the last meeting here even though it didnt have anything to beat. Somersby is 5/2 Bet365 Tchico Polos is 6/1 Bet365 Dutching the 2 against the field, i would have 10pts to bet on this race with 7pts on Somersby (returns 24.5pts) & 3pts on the nicholls horse (returns 21pts). Looking at it another way, i could lay the fav around 2.0 for 10pts which will win me 10pts (slightly lower than the profit above).

[jtw1]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec Yeah i think it could be well worth taking the Fav on here Bowles FIRST POINT is a decent horse but should'nt beat the other 3 on all known form. Ok SOMERSBY did win on Soft in it's 1st run in a Nh Flat race at Huntingdon but the 5 behind it have failed to score since , think he was just a better class of horse on the day !! I really think the 'value' in the race is TCHICO POLOS , Ruby can dictate the pace and hope that the others will get stuck in the Esher mud as they take the last 2 fences :hope

[bowles10]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec It is only 2miles though so stamina shouldnt play too much of a part but the horse that jumps out of the soft ground the best will win, sounds obvious but just look at Denman last week, What a friend just couldnt live with the way Denman got away from the fence. At Sandown the best way to jump is off a decent stride & really try to stretch the field, any horse that hits a fence here doesnt often recover, so the best jumper will win depsite the ground, tactics etc :ok Looking forward to this race.

[Trendsman]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec A very disappointing turn out of just the four runners here for a Grade 2 event. Crack Away Jack made a pleasing debut to chasing when winning over course and distance last month beating Calusa Crystal by 17L. Winner of the Fred Winter this year he has no problem in this company and looks the one to be on here.

[bowles10]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec Laid CAJ so happy with the result but the price on Somersby has left me feeling a bit down as that was my main fancy as previously said Good race though. Cheltenham may be a bit different come March.

[jtw1]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec Was out all day on Saturday so never seen the race until this morning on the RP Tv . TCHICO POLOS ran a good race but was simply outclassed by the 1st and 2nd after the last fence .

[billvernon]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec Somersby looks a nice horse jumped immaculatly and stayed on well nice.Ran well at Warwick and goes on most ground - this could be star in the making .Happy for the Hen .Best Mate was a good horse and was a shame to lose him.

[billvernon]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec Crack Away Jack needs lots more experience

[jtw1]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec

Crack Away Jack needs lots more experience

and better ground imo

[bowles10]

Re: KEY RACE: Henry VIII Novices Chase - Saturday 5th Dec Saturday December 5 2009 Sandown 13:55 - Result Betinternet.com Henry Viii Novices' Chase (grade 2) £33000 added, 4yo plus, 2m, Class 1, £18813 penalty, 4 ran Going: Soft Race Report »

• 12:55
• 13:25
• 13:55
• 14:25
• 15:00
• 15:30

Pos.	Dr.	Dist.	Horse	Wt	Jockey	Trainer	Age	SP
1			Somersby (IRE)	11-2	A P McCoy	Miss H C Knight	5	7/2
		tracked clear leader, took closer order 4 out, every chance from 3 out, led just after last, edged right, ridden out and ran on well (no time taken) opened 3/1 touched 4/1 £2000-£500 £1400-£400 (x2)
2		2¾	Crack Away Jack	11-2	N Fehily	Miss E C Lavelle	5	8/11 f
		held up in 4th, headway 4 out, every chance last, no extra flat opened 10/11 touched 10/11 £1500-£1650 £1000-£1100 £500-£550 (x3) £1000-£1200 (x5) £583-£700 £500-£600 £417-£500 £4000-£5000 £2000-£2500 (x4) £800-£1000 £400-£500 (x6) £320-£400 (x2)
3		1	Tchico Polos (FR)	11-2	R Walsh	P F Nicholls	5	7/2
		led, soon 10 lengths clear, challenged from 3 out, headed last, weakened close home opened 9/2 touched 9/2 £4500-£1000 £2100-£600
4		22	First Point (GER)	11-2	B J Geraghty	N J Henderson	6	12/1
		held up in 3rd, driven to challenge when mistake 3 out, soon weakened opened 9/1 touched 12/1 £4400-£400