Blenheim Palace Horse Trials 15th-18th September Handicap Hurdle

Off time: 15:03 | Winning time: 4m 37.9s

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Selected odds by:

Lunar Sovereign^t⁴³⁶

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: Harry Skelton| T: F O'Brien| OR: 128

11/2

Made good strides as a novice during 2020/21 campaign, winning twice, but 14-month absence is an obvious concern ahead of this handicap debut.

Form: 631133/

Persia⁶³

Age: 5| Weight: 11-9| J: R P McLernon| T: J & A O'Neill| OR: 125

33/1

Successful twice in Ireland for Joseph O'Brien last year, but he offered little without usual headgear (again omitted here) back from a five-month break for new yard at Newbury (16.3f, good).

Form: 124006-

Bashful Boy^p,t²⁷

Age: 6| Weight: 11-6| J: Philip Armson⁽⁵⁾| T: D Pipe| OR: 122

5/6

Dual hurdles winner for Suzi Best and failed by a whisker on third start for this yard at Plumpton in April. Not disgraced in the Swinton at Haydock (15.6f, good to soft) last time and leading claims down 1 lb in this less competitive affair.

Form: 82342-6

Highway Companion²²

Age: 8| Weight: 11-1| J: Craig Nichol| T: K Dalgleish| OR: 117

4/1

Showed nothing on return from a lengthy absence at Wetherby in March, but right back to form when landing a 10-runner Perth handicap (20.2f, good to soft) last month. This is more demanding up 8 lb, but merits respect all the same.

Form: 2134/P-1

Caius Marcius^p³⁴

Age: 11| Weight: 10-12| J: B S Hughes| T: N G Richards| OR: 114| C

11/2

Has dropped a long way in the weights since scoring over 20.6f here last summer, but he hasn't shown much spark in three starts since the turn of the year. Yard also represented by Bon Retour.

Form: 42U55-8

Bon Retour²¹

Age: 7| Weight: 10-9| J: Sean Quinlan| T: N G Richards| OR: 111

20/1

Winner of just one of her 17 starts, namely a Galway handicap hurdle for Willie Mullins in July 2020, and she has struggled since joining present yard.

Form: B6774/P

Non-Runners

Gipsy De Choisel¹⁶

Weight: 12-0| Age: 6

T: N J Henderson J: D A Jacob

Forecasts

Bashful Boy (5/6), Gipsy De Choisel (15/8), Highway Companion (4/1), Caius Marcius (11/2), Lunar Sovereign (11/2), Bon Retour (20/1), Persia (33/1)

This is less taxing than the Grade 3 handicap BASHFUL BOY contested at Haydock last time and he is taken to open his account for David Pipe at the fifth time of asking. Highway Companion has to enter calculations on the back of his clear-cut Perth victory, but a bigger threat is likely to be posed by the lightly-raced Gipsy de Choisel, who did the job well at Warwick 16 days ago.