Adonis Juvenile Hurdle 2012

2.00 Kempton

Download William Hill From The App-Store Adonis Juvenile Hurdle (Grade 2) (Class 1)  (4YO only)

Winner £12,073

Advice: 1 pt win Dildar (4/1 general)

Baby Mix: Fifth on one and only hurdles start in France but vastly improved when hugely impressive in beating Hinterland by seven lengths with ease; Dissapointment when far too keen for his own good at Cheltenham but not hard to see him bounce back from that and flat track always had the appearance of suiting.

Dark And Dangerous: No more than average on the flat (rated 58 at peak) but looked as if he’d make a much better first of things over hurdles when winning well at Sandown first time out, travelling well before asserting; Well beaten fourth in best contest he’s run in before winning again and worry that this is too hard.

Dildar: Best flat form of these with his fourth in the Prix Greffulhe on the flat (pacemaker that day) and backed that up to an extent with good second in Listed race; Highly touted ahead of hurdling debut and while that left a fair bit to be desired, sure to have improved since on both jumping and fitness fronts; Stable already had decent success this season in this division and should take a hand.

Sadler’s Risk: Useful on the flat (fourth in the Chester Vase, which this year worked out very well) and created a deep impression on his hurdling debut here, when destroying an admittedly weak field; Should be hard to beat here for all this is much harder.

Hurricane Herbie: Down the field at Auteil (heavy ground) for debut; Interesting that trainer wants to take this route given useful record with juveniles but more needed here.

Kayalar: Promise on three starts in August but didn’t live upto that expectation until dropped in class for AW maiden win 10 days ago; This a tough hurdling debut.

Orthodox Lad: Winner on the flat at Sailsbury but two hurdling runs have indicated that he wouldn’t be upto this class and might be more of one for the handicaps.

Une Artiste: Continued progression from French form when winning the Victor Ludorum Hurdle at Haydock just a week ago, winning in spite of some poor jumping (cruising before 2 out); Interesting that she’s running here on just second UK start and has to be respected.

VERDICT: A race which puts yet another jigsaw in the piece of the Triumph Hurdle, with the last two winners having gone onto Cheltenham success. It’s not hard to see why Sadler’s Risk his favourite after his romp here on his debut and he looks like a serious prospect, but he’s taken on with DILDAR, who had an equally tall reputation before winning on his debut at Taunton. He didn’t impress many that day but there’s clearly improvement to come in his jumping (as fellow Nicholls inmates have shown this season) and he should strip much fitter for his debut at Taunton.  Baby Mix is worth another chance and should really be suited by a flat track, so deserves respect.