Minella Indo

1st-May-2019

I think that Minella Indo should be clear favourite.  Albert Bartlett Hurdle winners do not have a good record in this race, but he won the Cheltenham race with absolute authority, despite the fact that events conspired against him.  Also, the two horses who are ahead of him in the market, Allaho and Commander Of Fleet, also had hard races in the Albert Bartlett, and they both finished behind him.  Either or both of those rivals may reverse placings today, but it doesn’t make sense that they have both been put in at shorter prices.

Minella Indo raced keenly too in the Albert Bartlett Hurdle.  He was keener than ideal for Rachael Blackmore, and he went to the front at the third last flight.  That is a long way out on the New Course at Cheltenham, especially when the ground is on the easy side.  Even so, Minella Indo stayed on really strongly to repel the challenge of Commander Of Fleet, with Allaho back in third.

He was a 50/1 shot that day, and often when a horse wins a Grade 1 race at a big price, the performance is under-rated.  And Allaho did beat Minella Indo on their previous encounter at Clonmel.  But Minella Indo obviously improved from that, just his second run over hurdles.

MINELLA INDO WON (SP 5/1)

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