What We Learned From The Weekend - 26/11/2018

Nicky Henderson has stated that his star chaser had no injury issues that resulted in him finishing last in Saturday’s Betfair Chase.

The horse did not jump at all well and Henderson had described the fences at Haydock as potentially too dangerous. However, he is not worried about Might Bite and will still send him to the King George on Boxing day, a race he won last year.

He believes if he can get some confidence back into the nine-year-old things will improve. He will certainly need to after Saturdays dismal showing and he looked a shadow of his former self on his seasonal reappearance.

Whilst Bristol De Mai’s price of 13/2 was much of a reflection of the top-class horses he was taking on, it was also because the ground was deemed to fast for the horse.

The horse loves heavy ground and those were the conditions the horse was victorious in when thumping his rivals in last year’s Betfair Chase by over 20 lengths. He managed to win again this year by a smaller margin and has now won his four runs at Haydock by a total of 115 lengths.

The fact the horse has now proven himself in less demanding conditions means he is a real player heading to the King George and Cheltenham. He is unlikely to be as big as 13/2 anytime soon.

Put simply, Adam Kirby is in the form of his life. He had a tremendous evening on the All-Weather of Kempton on Friday, riding three winners.

He would have thought it unlikely he would out-do that the following day. Unbelievably he did. He rode four winners at a price of 454/1 and was also in the frame in two other races.

He rode with incredible confidence throughout the card. In some instances he dictated the pace, in others he got up in the shadows of the post. There is little doubt Kirby is one of the best All-Weather jockeys in the country.