Thomas Mor Headed For Reynoldstown En Route To Festival Bid
Thomas Mor could show he is the forgotten horse in the novice chasing department when he heads to Ascot for the Injured Jockeys Fund Ambassadors Programme Reynoldstown Novices' Chase on Saturday.
Philip Hobbs and Johnson White's course winner was second to Kitzbuhel in the Kauto Star Novices' Chase on Boxing Day and having actually seen Kempton 3rd, Wendigo, and 4th, Salver, frank the kind because, connections are buoyant ahead of this Grade Two event which might act as a springboard to the Cheltenham Festival.
White said: "The form has been boosted because Christmas, I was very amazed when taking a look at the Brown Advisory betting to see he is 100-1 and some of the horses that have actually been behind him and not too far in front are single figures.
"He remains in good form and schooled well on Tuesday early morning and returns to Ascot which is a course he won well at on his penultimate start. should fit and he's 10lb higher than anything else on ratings so we have to be confident.
"We'll get Saturday out the way first before we think of Cheltenham but at the moment we are considering the Grade One.
"This has actually constantly been the race we had in mind for him after Kempton and we're quite eagerly anticipating the track we are taking."
Thomas Mor has wise course type (Andrew Matthews/PA)
Hobbs and White could also be represented at Ascot by the well-regarded Starzand in the opening Betfair Novices' Hurdle, a race the steady won with Sporting John back in 2020.
Meanwhile, French Ship, another of the Minehead operation's leading lights, is likely to test the waters in graded business at Haydock when heading to the north west for the ZYN Rendlesham Hurdle.
"He'll probably go to Haydock instead of the Pertemps qualifier at Wincanton," continued White.
"It will be competitive however he's in good form and he's run well at Haydock in the past, so there's no factor not to be thinking that method.
"He remains in terrific form and schooled over a couple of hurdles on Tuesday early morning. We could not be better with him and thrilled to see how he gets on."