Big-price winner worth following

THE biggest turn up of the weekend at the Cheltenham November meeting must have been Lavender Hill Mob landing the Intermediate Hurdle at odds of 33/1, writes Page Fuller.

He is a talented performer on the flat, but never unlocked the same level of form over hurdles last season. Despite winning one juvenile hurdle, he was a disappointing favourite on more occasions than not and signed off with a very underwhelming performance in the Fred Winter.

It’s therefore no surprise that he went off the price he did, especially given the question mark over the soft ground and this first attempt at two miles five. He soon silenced any doubters, and he could be exciting to follow, given that the handicapper only handed him 8lb.

The race had an odd complexion. Lavender Hill Mob sat handy, and it wasn’t long before De Temps En Temps took control of his rider and went a little faster than ideal. Sam Twiston Davies didn’t panic though, and made the most of the opportunity to find some space, and dictate his own fractions in behind.

This meant that Lavender Hill Mob was able to find a lovely jumping rhythm, far better than he’d ever found before. As a juvenile, he never recorded a Jump Index higher than 7.0 out of 10, with his two previous runs at Cheltenham scoring 6.5 and 6.2 out of 10.

Last Saturday, he took a big step forward, recording an 8.3 out of 10 for his jumping, and illustrated that he could be a different beast to go to war with, now he’s stepped up in trip. As mentioned above, Sam timed everything to perfection as well, and despite Give Him A Chance recording the fastest final half-mile of the meeting, he had been given too much work to do.