Persian War Novices' Hurdle Tips: Skelton Charge Has Loads Of Upside

Buckle in National Hunt fans - from Friday, the Jumps is officially back! Here at HorseRacing.Net we heralded the new season's beginning with a marvellous horses to follow piece from our star columnist RoadCheltenham which you can read here.

Chepstow heralds the start of the new season and the feature Friday race is the Persian War Novices' Hurdle. Billy Grimshaw is loving seeing some top jumpers back out and has made his selection...

Sorry flat fans, but it is SO good to have the jumps back. The lads on the level do many things better than the twig hoppers, but there is nothing quite like the time of year when it is getting darker earlier and on social media we begin to see stable tours, horses to follow and videos of horses back in their yards schooling. Chepstow has the honour each season of really kicking off the season and 2024 will already look a bit different to years gone by; there is no Ditcheat runner in the Persian War!

Usually a staple of the race and more often than not bringing the market leader, Paul Nicholls has kept his powder dry for this race and as such his star retained rider and last year's champion Harry Cobden was available to pick up a ride. He has been snared by Irish raider Intense Approach for John McConnell. Regular readers will know I think Cobden is the best in the business on this side of the Irish Sea and while I think he has an excellent chance of retaining the title he scooped last year with the high class Captain Teague on board the sole Irish entrant, I won't be siding with him in this year's renewal.

In terms of ratings this is arguably the most competitive - albeit not the classiest - Persian War we've seen in some time and so it could well pay to look for the one who has the profile of a horse who'll progress throughout the campaign. Intense Approach may well improve a bundle for Cobden's expert handling, however like the favourite Ryan's Rocket for Fergal O'Brien I'm really not convinced either has beaten much thus far in their careers at fairly minor tracks to warrant coming here and being sub 3/1.

When taking a look at the few pieces of form on offer in here, there was one horse who stuck out like a sore thumb in terms of tender riding last season and he comes from a stable who are no stranger to rocketing a horse up the ratings throughout the winter, the Skeltons. JUVENTUS DE BRION started his life over hurdles with a third at Exeter as a four year old which was one of the most obvious 'mark me up' performances you are ever likely to see. For the first half of the race Harry Skelton was clearly teaching his charge the ropes and in this stage of the contest is where his win chance disappeared as those on the front end got away from the chasing pack.

This race was nothing special but it was only over 2 miles, a trip which was always going to make his Creachadoir gelding struggle, and he was the only horse not prominent to get involved in the shake up come the finish, making up plenty of ground in pretty good style. He filled the same position next time out in what I'm convinced will work out as a smart race in time at Ascot behind Inthewaterside and Pic Roc, who have both gone on to place in better races than this since.

Last season before his Ascot jaunt Dan Skelton seemed as keen as one can be to keep his horse a novice for this campaign, and so his ride out the back before picking up pieces made sense there. I wouldn't be surprised if Harry is much more prominent on his horse this time around and with this being a weaker than usual Persian War, I think he could well be the horse who ends the season best of this bunch - so 4/1 about him coming out on top of the tree at the start of the campaign will do for me, for all I am a bit worried they could attempt to get him a low mark and go on a handicap winning spree.