Avant Tout

29th-Apr-2016

Avant Tout has plenty of weight, but he is a nicely progressive young staying chaser.  He did really well to finish as close as he did to his talented stable companion Outlander on heavy ground in a Grade 2 novices’ chase at Limerick over Christmas.  The ground would have been in Outlander’s favour, and it wouldn’t have been ideal for Avant Tout, but he got to within a length and a half of him, and the pair of them finished clear of another talented horse in Free Expression.

That was just Avant Tout’s second run over fences, and the form of that run was advertised by Outlander, who won the Grade 1 Flogas Chase on his next run.

A faller in Smashing’s race at Thurles next time, when he probably would have finished second, Avant Tout was a big eye-catcher in the Coral Cup at Cheltenham.  He came from very far back in that race, he finished stronger than anything else.  He only finished ninth in the end, but he was beaten a total of less than five lengths, and he could have been much closer if he had started his run earlier.

Willie Mullins’ horse has run since Cheltenham, he beat Lord Scoundrel easily in a Grade 2 chase at Limerick four weeks ago, but he raced like a fresh horse that day, and he should still be fresh enough to run his race today.

Crucially, he put up the best performance of his hurdling career at this meeting last year, when he won a three-mile handicap under 11st 8lb.  So we know that he handles the track and the meeting and this time of year and goodish ground.

Rated 142 over hurdles, he races today off a chase mark of 145, and that is a mark that he should be able to surpass.  He is only six and he has raced just four times over fences.

AVANT TOUT WON (ADV 13/2, SP 11/2)