JLT Novices' Chase 2016 - Festival Focus

Mai Time - The impressive Bristol De Mai can land the JLT.

Last year’s JLT served up one of the performances of the festival when Vautour slammed his rivals in scintillating style, and this year’s renewal of the novice chase at the intermediate distance had tantalisingly offered the prospect of another Willie Mullins star potentially lighting up Prestbury Park in Thursday’s opener.

Sadly though following his scarcely believable recovery to get back up and win after what ordinarily would have been a race-ending blunder at the last at Leopardstown Killultagh Vic has been ruled out of Cheltenham through injury.

In his place the consistently improving Bristol De Mai has taken favouritism and although with many running scared of Douvan in the Arkle this year’s race could be one of the strongest in a good few years, Nigel Twiston-Davies’ horse looks the rightful market leader at this point and I have no real desire to look elsewhere in the race given he looks a perfectly backable price at 7/2.

This race has been confirmed as his festival target by connections, in spite of an entry in the RSA, and his three wins over middle distances by a combined 45 lengths in winter ground would suggest he will have no trouble getting up that infamous hill.

Festival Focus - JLT Novices' Chase 2015

Got My Vaut - If last year's Supreme winner takes his chance he'll be tough to beat in the JLT

With less than eight weeks to go now until the greatest show on turf it’s time to kick off this year’s festival focus series, and it’s the opener of Thursday’s card that has me pulling the trigger on the first ante-post advice of the year.

Rather surprisingly given how fearful the bookies usually are of the Willie Mullins battalions from a long range perspective, the horse I’m interested in here has actually lost his position at the head of the market with some firms in recent weeks.

The reason for this is two-fold, one, because as is always the case this time of year, the uncertainty over where Mullins will aim his most deadly weapons still reigns supreme and his big guns could be rerouted at any time between now and the tapes rising the second week in March, and the second is the crushing bump he took on Boxing Day in the Racing Post Novice Chase which resulted in a remarkable defeat to Clarcam.

I am of course talking about last year’s Supreme winner Vautour.

JLT Novices' Chase Preview - Festival Focus

Yong Gun - Felix Yonger is the selection in the JLT

This race sprung a little bit of a surprise last year as Benefficient ensured Irish dominance of the race continued with a 20/1 victory.

Now sponsored by JLT the race formerly known as the Jewson will enjoy Grade 1 status this year for the first time but though some things change I expect others to stay very much the same and for Ireland to once again emerge victorious.

Willie Mullins has already taken this race once – with Sir Des Champs in 2012 – and he looks poised to land the spoils again this year with Felix Yonger.

The son of Oscar was one of several horses under the ownership of the Wylies that joined Willie Mullins after the Howard Johnson shenanigans.

He’d been a decent Bumper performer for Johnson, albeit trailing in almost last in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham in 2011.