I DO love Newbury as a venue, believing it to be the fairest venue in the UK for high-class jumpers, and even the lesser meetings at the track tend to attract a smattering of high-class prospects learning their trade.

The card there on Thursday threw up two talented hurdlers in particular that should pay to follow, and another who should go under the radar.

Recent rains ensuring that the season started on perfect winter ground making race times for this meeting slower than they have been in recent years, while the hurdles were on the outermost line, adding extra distance to races.

Winner of the Agetur Novices’ Hurdle, Willmount has looked a really exciting prospect from day one, and it’s no surprise to find out that he was scouted by both Harold Kirk and Eddie O’Leary before Neil Mulholland secured him at Tatts Cheltenham sale a year ago for owner Ollie Harris for £340,000.

He could easily have become either Willie Mullins or Gordon Elliott’s star bumper performer, but instead went a tad under the radar despite winning two bumpers in really impressive style at Doncaster under Mulholland’s tutelage.

Impressive athleticism

A son of Blue Bresil out of bumper winner Youngstar, he raced just once between the flags, showing impressive athleticism and a willing attitude to score in a four-year-old maiden from Shannon Royale, with the pair a dozen lengths clear.

The runner-up was sold for £300,000 on behalf of Brian Acheson, and was recently seen finishing a close third to Lecky Watson in a novice hurdle at Thurles.

Willmount oozed class in winning his bumpers and I hoped for the personable and talented Mulholland that he would go on to great things for the yard, but Harris switched him to Nicky Henderson in the summer for a hurdles career, which is a shame in that his previous trainer handled him very well and took the decision to miss the Champion Bumper with a view to maximising his potential over timber. Conkwell Lodge’s loss is Seven Barrows’ gain, and Henderson has taken charge of a ready-made hurdler with huge potential.

Sent off at 1/3 at Newbury, Willmount had to make most of his own running against a rather weak field for the track but jumped superbly on the whole to win by a wide margin.

Henderson loves to unleash a star at Newbury, and Willmount was merely reminding us of previous promise in winning as well as he did.

The real test of the gelding will come when stepped up in class, of course, but I’ve had three views of him now, and he’s really knocked me over with the ease with which he’s won, and I’ve no doubt he will progress to a higher level when needed.

I was interested to hear one or two make note of Willmount’s winning time, which was exactly five seconds slower than the opening contest won by Brentford Hope, suggesting that the favourable reactions to the former were a little over the top. It is worth noting such things of course, but it’s important to include context.

Brentford Hope’s race was run at a much quicker tempo which allowed Harry Derham’s charge to fully express himself, whereas Nico de Boinville would have been heading for the high jump if he had attempted to match that pace on a horse having his first start over hurdles.

Huge amount of ground

Despite being much slower for the first circuit, Willmount made up a huge amount of ground, relatively speaking, in the latter stages, and was just over 10 seconds faster from the third-last flight.

The danger here is looking to take the positives from one race as a stick to beat the form of the other, but my view is that although the results derived from very different race tactics, both Brentford Hope and Willmount achieved enough today to make them of significant interest going forward.

Brentford Hope has always had huge talent, but while he became frustrating for Richard Hughes, he has really taken off for Harry Derham, and he was mightily impressive in winning a competitive handicap in which the front-runners – himself included – went off too hard.

Rated 122 by the assessor, he will get a big rise for this win, but fully deserves it, and a rating of around 135 merely allows him to get into the most valuable handicap hurdles of the season.

He returns for the Gerry Feilden Hurdle over track and trip in early December and will be hard to beat even after his inevitable punishment for this win.

Caveat

The one caveat is his jumping which was largely slick here, but he did make a significant early mistake and needs to be error-free to land the big pot he’s capable of.

On the plus side, he can run in the next week or so without a penalty, so can get some practice without having to work too hard.

Also worth throwing in the list is runner-up in that conditional jockeys’ event, Sergeant Wilson, who has been too headstrong to fulfil his talent to date, but did very well to hold second having been responsible for the headlong gallop.

Being beaten 16 lengths means he can’t realistically go up in the weights, and it’s worth remembering that he was the subject of a plunge on his return at Southwell when failing to settle.

He’s almost certainly best when allowed his head rather than when fighting his rider, so aggressive tactics can see him run up a sequence.

LUCCIA was a name on everyone’s lips prior to Cheltenham in March, with many calling on Nicky Henderson to give her a try in the Supreme after an easy win at Exeter, but time has shown that the form of that novice event has been overrated, while the warnings from the same race have been ignored.

Luccia was beaten while running creditably behind Shewearsitwell at Cheltenham in the Dawn Run Novices, and again at Aintree when third to Inthepocket, showing her to be about as smart as she had looked at Exeter, but not the machine that many had hoped for.

I was intrigued to see how heavily backed she was at Wetherby last week when taking on Shewearsitwell again and it appears the fan club is still very much alive.

I admit that I thought her best chance of winning such a race would be first time up in a small field, which would make less of an issue of her suspect jumping technique while making use of her excellent record when fresh.

I have to say, however, that although she was not discredited in finishing second, she struck me as a mare who will be hard to place this term.

She can be quick at her hurdles, but sacrifices height in doing so, and is prone to getting too low, as she did at the last at Exeter, and again at the weekend.

She also lacks scope, and while Timeform call her “chunky”, I don’t see her developing much physically, and looking at her alongside Shewearsitwell in the paddock at Wetherby, I struggle to find a reason why she should beat Jamie Snowden’s mare again at level weights.