Cheltenham Festival Market Movers From The Week - 01/03/21

Tritonic is the new rising star from the Alan King yard and this weekend he cemented himself as a big player in the Grade One Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham festival after landing the Grade Two Adonis Juvenile Hurdle.

The gelding had some strong form on the flat last term and is known for acting on soft ground, with his best run coming at Royal Ascot in June when a narrow second in the Golden Gates Handicap behind Highland Chief, who went on to frank the form in better races.

King decided to send him over hurdles and he made his seasonal debut at Ascot in a hot event and seemed to get better over his obstacles the further he went, staying out the two miles in good style.

He managed to get up close home under a confident ride by Adrian Heskin and his handler admitted that there was still big improvement to come off the back of that.

We saw that on Saturday when stepping up into Grade Two company beating a field comfortably by 10 lengths, which saw him smashed from 11/1 into 3/1 second favourite for the first race on the Friday at Cheltenham.

Another big mover in the Triumph Hurdle on Saturday came from Ireland with the in the news Gordon Elliott Trained Teahupoo landing the Grade Three Juvenile Hurdle at Fairyhouse.

The Robcour owned gelding extended his unbeaten run to three races over hurdles at the weekend when taking the black type by seven lengths.

The four year old had raced twice before that, showing superb ability when winning in France in October and then backing that up on his first start in Ireland, bolting up at Fairyhouse.

He stepped up for his biggest test on Saturday but passed it with flying colours and can now be backed for the Triumph at 14/1 having previously been 25s.

The final horse to take note of from his performance at the weekend is Cape Gentleman who became the first Irish raider to land the Grade Two Dovecote Hurdle.

The Emmet Mullins trained five year old was a superb horse on the flat last year, landing the Irish Cesarewitch in October and from then he has been sent over hurdles.

He made a pleasing debut at Punchestown when a good winner of a Maiden hurdle that saw him beat some smart horses and off the back of that he stepped up for his first Grade One.

He went to Leopardstown for the Dublin Racing Festival and was unfortunately pulled up in the 2m6f, but was turned around quickly for this event over two miles on Saturday and was a gritty winner of the event.

Although the win came over the minimum trip, it showed he was a stout stayer and it saw his odds for the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle get slashed into 20/1 from 50/1 before the race.