Change of plans for Puffin Billy, Oliver Sherwood to prefer William Hill Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham
Keenly observing the situation, Oliver Sherwood has made a few changes to his Cheltenham plans. The veteran trainer was intended to run his unbeaten novice hurdler, Puffin Billy, in the 2m5f Neptune Investment Novices' Hurdle, but now he is leaning towards
the William Hill Supreme Novices' Hurdle.
Talking about his decision, he shared: "The entries close tomorrow for the novice events and he will get entries in both races. My gut feeling at the moment, with the ground the way it is, is that he will almost certainly go for the two-miler [Supreme] on
soft or heavier ground."
Sherwood told At The Races on Monday: "If it's drier than that I might switch to the Neptune but my gut feeling is two miles at the moment if the ground stays as it is."
The 5-year-old gelding has bagged four crucial wins so far in his career. He started his career in March last year, when winning a Flat race at Fontwell. After making a winning debut, he took a long break, and came up more strongly in November.
The spectators at Royal Ascot saw him getting the better of Lord Protector and the rest in the United House Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race. After doing the damage on Flat, the son of Heron Island was ready to fire over hurdles.
He did that in style at Newbury at the end of November, when capturing the first place comfortably by five lengths. The Kenneth Parkhill-bred opened his account at the graded level last month.
In the Grade 2 Mitie Kennel Gate Novices' Hurdle at Royal Ascot, he did a fascinating job to bag the first prize by a margin of five lengths.
Having done well at different venues, the unbeaten horse looks ready to spark at the highest level of the sport. Due to testing ground, he missed his scheduled outing on the Festival Trials day, but the coach revealed that his charge would have a race before
the extravaganza.
He uttered: "The plan is to go to Exeter on Sunday week for a two mile one furlong Listed race."
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