Coral Racing Club Intermediate Handicap Hurdle – Newbury – Saturday 30th November

Saturday’s Coral Racing Club Intermediate Handicap Hurdle (more commonly known as the Gerry Fielden) at Newbury at 2.25 has 21 entries, and with declarations due on Thursday morning, I think now could be the time to lock in a 1-star * ante-post recommendation for WhichBookie.

Current price and place terms would both be favourable in my eyes, as given the ground is likely to be ‘soft’ on the hurdles course, that might dissuade a few from declaring, and so obtaining the 4 places on offer with a small number of firms might prove wise.

The horse in question is Paul Nicholls’ Liari, who is available at 15/2 each-way with Paddy Power or Betfair Sportsbook for 4 places and is a horse I sense we are yet to see anywhere near the very best of.

Liari won his first 3 juvenile hurdle starts for Paul Nicholls last season with increasing ease, showing marked improvement each time, including twice in Listed company and also boasting an ability to sluice through extremely testing conditions at Aintree.

It is this ability to handle softer ground that perhaps persuaded the trainer to bypass a shot at the Greatwood Hurdle, and instead aim his unexposed improving young hurdler at the Gerry Fielden instead.

Liari ran in last season’s Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and was running extremely well having hugged the inner of the track. Given the first 6 or 7 home all went widest for the most part, the fact Liari was still in contention going to the third last is testament to his ability, and it’s also notable that he was extremely strong in the market in the lead up to the race.

Having been caught by a flapping hurdle bar at the third last, Liari was quickly pulled up having lost all chance, so don’t be fooled by the ‘P’ in the formbook.

His seasonal reappearance was also one which is miles better than the formbook suggests, when finishing 3^rd in the 4-year-old handicap hurdle on Chepstow’s Silver Trophy card.

Racing on the inner of the hurdle track that day was a distinct disadvantage, and despite Liari being kept there and visibly taking a big blow in between the final two hurdles, he was still able to run the portion of the race between the final hurdle on the penultimate hurdle circuit and the final hurdle on the final circuit, quicker than Take No Chances did in the Silver Trophy.

Now, I felt it best to compare Liari with Take No Chances as they raced on a similar part of the track that day and witnessing what Take No Chances did when absolutely dotting up in a Listed hurdle at Wetherby over 2m the time after, it is clear that Liari is also worth marking up for his run hugely.

Incidentally, Take No Chances has only been raised 1lb for that Wetherby win and would appear to be on a vastly undervalued rating, which means she will be a big price for an open looking Fighting Fifth Hurdle on Saturday also.

Whether she will beat the likes of Mystical Power or Sir Gino is hard to say, but she certainly could beat the rest and isn’t the worst 33/1 each-way shout right nor for 3 places, if you can get it.

Back to the point in hand though, and it is my opinion that Liari is going to prove to be a very stern proposition for many in the Gerry Fielden. The softish ground will help the likes of Aston Martini, Salver and Ooh Betty, but I’d be amazed if any have the potential improvement of Liari, hence why he should be backed at 15/2 each-way with Paddy Power for 4 places at this stage.